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Inciting Violence Isn’t Protected Speech

Let’s pick up where we left off last week. Intolerance directly or indirectly begetting (1) threats of or (2) actual physical violence may ultimately reflect something along the spectrum from disrespect for others to disregard of the rule of law. It’s often smart to pull back on the rhetorical reins long before loose language rises to the level of implicit threats, much less explicit threats. Since the Sept. 10 assassination of Charles James Kirk, many have called for pulling back on the rhetorical reins. Toning it down. Being respectful of others. Such calls have been ...

How To Handle A Discontinued Plan

Question: I just received correspondence from my insurance company informing me my 2025 insurance is discontinuing and won’t be offered in 2026. What should I do? Answer: Happy Insurance Season! It is the end of September and your plan is required to inform you about all of its changes for 2026. We have been talking all year about how 2025 changes to prescription drug coverage have impacted seniors and saved them so much more money on their medications. That means that insurance companies covering you have had to pay more. Such a change usually means we will be seeing some ...

Kirk Was A Martyr Too

In an interview, Charlie Kirk said, “Before I go on a college campus, my prayer is very simple: ‘God use me for your will…’ So what is God’s plan when I go onto college campuses? I will only tell the truth. I will not compromise and I love on the lost… Jesus called us to tell the truth and Jesus called us to contest in the public square for his purposes. I am far more interested in what God wants of me than what I want from God and what God wants for me is a life fighting for the truth.” Observing the opposition fighting against him, Charlie said, “They will use the ...

The Cycles of Our National Politics

In my lifetime, I have lived through what I would call two or three “cycles” in our national politics. We came out of World War II as the major super-power in the world—there was a good feeling in the country. Yet, somehow, we lost our “mojo.” Along came the fall of China to the communists and then the war in Korea. Suddenly, in the 1950’s, we were in a mood of fear and apprehension. Along came Senator Joe McCarthy, “pouring kerosene on the fire,” blaming it all on purported communists in the government and conducting a campaign of fear, falsehoods and blame. The ...

The 1960s; The Best of Times, The Worst Of Times

Since World War II the decade of the 1960s stands out for its monumental changes in American life. Civil rights, women’s rights, Vietnam War protests, the “Pill”, music, President Kennedy’s assassination were all part of an upheaval in American life. The most noble legacy of the 1960s was the Civil Rights movement. Although slavery was officially abolished by the13th Amendment to the Constitution at the end of 1865, the Federal Government gave up trying to protect former slaves in the South as part of the politics of the Presidential election of 1876 (an election so close ...

Pull Back On The Rhetorical Reins

Let’s pick up where we left off last week. At some things, one just has to laugh. One just has to laugh at what four law schools did that at least in effect substantially diminished attendance for presentations to Federalist Society chapters: — At one law school: A fire drill and the next semester’s class registration. — At another: Simultaneously scheduling an event at the law school’s other campus to honor Justice Clarence Thomas’s chief 1991 accuser. — At another: Simultaneously scheduling a mid-semester first-year-law-student orientation. — At another: ...