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Regents Consider Unnecessary Inflation of Free Speech Policy

At its meeting next week at the School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City, the South Dakota Board of Regents will discuss seven draft policies that it says deal with free speech.

The second draft policy, the one explicitly titled “Freedom of Speech,” certainly speaks freely. Not in response, Regents’ president Kevin Schieffer assures us, to the folderol raised by conservatives with a fake persecution complex and a hard-on for higher ed, the board would expand a nice, concise forty-word statement of commitment to free speech and expression into a rambling, recursive 777-word recapitulation of what the First Amendment says in ten: “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech.”

The current policy says all that is necessary to direct policy:

The institutions shall ensure the rights of free speech and expression and shall encourage the timely and rational discussion of topics whereby the ethical and intellectual development of the student body and general welfare of the public may be promoted [SD Board of Regents, Policy 3:3: Freedom of Speech, unrevised].

The new language under consideration simply states, restates, and beats to exhaustion the same fundamental message: the First Amendment applies on campus as surely as off, and the Regents are bound thereby.

Nonetheless, I find one sentence in the proposed draft that, while not needed in the Regental policy manual, would be worth passing on to Al Novstrup and other conservatives who can’t stand the heat of honest criticism:

…concerns about civility and mutual respect can never be used as a justification for closing off discussion of ideas, however offensive or disagreeable those ideas may be to some members of our institutions’ community [SD Board of Regents, proposed revision to Policy 3:3, posted September 2018].

Conservatives try to shout down criticism of their counterproductive, bigoted, and racist policies as uncivil and alienating, but that shouting avoids the facts as well as the right of honest citizens to state them, no matter how much chagrin they may cause of dishonest elected officials, who think free speech only applies to them.

The Regents are taking public comment on their proposed free speech policy revision and the other six drafts through next week. Exercise your free speech and send the Regents your thoughts on their drafts.

103 Comments

  1. Donald Pay 2018-09-24 09:23

    It the absolutist language that bugs me.

    …concerns about civility and mutual respect can never be used as a justification for closing off discussion of ideas, however offensive or disagreeable those ideas may be to some members of our institutions’ community [SD Board of Regents, proposed revision to Policy 3:3, posted September 2018].

    Really? “Concerns about civility and mutual respect can never be used as justification for closing off discussion of ideas?” Let’s see how that works at Board of Regents meetings when someone gets up and rattles off five minutes of hate-filled, obscene rant aimed at individual Regents, then finally gets around to forming a kernel of an idea. The Regents would cut that off pronto, and they know it. So would any institution concerned about such quaint ideas as civility and mutual respect. So, get real. You can protect academic freedom and free speech while upholding basic human dignity.

  2. OldSarg 2018-09-24 13:51

    Dude “Conservatives try to shout down criticism of their counterproductive, bigoted, and racist policies as uncivil and alienating, but that shouting avoids the facts” really?

    Take a look at your party from the top down. You all don’t believe in “free speech”. You don’t believe in debate. You don’t believe in borders, right to life, earning your own way or even evidence. It is your party platform to suppress the free speech of others. The fact you even posted such a statement is as bad as all the “accusers” coming out to down an honorable man with no witnesses, evidence or anything other than spewing hate. Cory, you are sinking to a new level of low.

  3. Jenny 2018-09-24 14:01

    Snap dragon, it is YOUR party that does not care about the poor, that wants people happy about working for dirt poor wages, that is homophobic, that hates immigrants (anyone that isn’t white), that wants the rich to get all the tax breaks while running up astronomical debt, that believes all wars are good, that doesn’t care about protecting our health from being lax on environmental issues. Oh – I could just go on and on and on and on…….

  4. Jenny 2018-09-24 14:15

    I’m sorry Cory, we can get back on topic. Was it SDs anti-Muslim movement (courtesy of far right Republican) that has crept up to the SD Board of Regents to start messing with their free speech policies now?

  5. Jenny 2018-09-24 14:18

    No wonder SD colleges and Universities are losing students.

  6. Jenny 2018-09-24 14:33

    South Dakota anti-Muslim racists have no idea, just no idea.
    Here in MN, Muslims are overwhelmingly staunch proud members of the DFL. The DFL does not have a hidden agenda with them, Muslims just want to be members of a party that fiercely supports human rights issues. Muslim women support women’s issues, equal pay, education, affordable healthcare, etc.
    I worry about Muslims living in SD and fear for their safety, and any other minority for that matter. The racism is appalling there.

  7. o 2018-09-24 14:57

    Much like the abortion discussion, free speech discussion requires some agreement of terms and basic understanding to continue: 1) does “hate speech” count as free/protected speech? 2) does speech that is deliberately intended to cause harm to others count as free/protected speech? 3) does deliberately deceptive or un-truthful speech count as free/protected speech?

  8. mike from iowa 2018-09-24 15:12

    The fact you even posted such a statement is as bad as all the “accusers” coming out to down an honorable man with no witnesses, evidence or anything other than spewing hate. Cory, you are sinking to a new level of low.

    35 plus years of lies, innuendoes, fabrications, false charges and still not a single verifiable crime to charge HRC with.

    You should talk, OldSnippy.

  9. OldSarg 2018-09-24 15:17

    Jenny: “does not care about the poor, working for dirt poor wages, homophobic, hates immigrants, anyone that isn’t white), rich to get all the tax breaks, believes all wars are good, doesn’t care about protecting our health and finally lax on environmental issues”

    THAT IS THE POINT! You are so filled with nothing more than hate that you are turning off the majority of Americans. You are shedding voters, both dems and repubs like a retriever shed its fur. Stop with the hate. It isn’t true. You are doing the same labeling the nazis did against the jews. Do you not see it?

    By the way “South Dakota anti-Muslim racists” there are none but you wouldn’t know because you don’t live here. We don’t allow haters. It’s the law “No Haters”.

    I honestly worry about some of you. . . I think you are dangerous.

  10. mike from iowa 2018-09-24 15:20

    What specific laws against free speech have Libs passed and where?

    You’ve been told to start and yer own blog and lie all you want over there. You won’t get away with here.

    Pro life?Yer buddy in the Kremlin Annex has indiscriminately slaughtered civilians with drone strikes and is itching to use nukes to kill even moar.
    He wants to take food stamps, health insurance, winter heat and who knows what all else from American citizens so they can die. I’ll tell you where you and Drumpf can shove yer fauxknee right to life BS.

  11. jerry 2018-09-24 15:50

    The Russian speaketh of hate, while spewing it. This is typical of the new Republican party of Putin. Stifle the free speech by our young folks. Make them even feel more inadequate to the powers to be. Kevin is just worried that some can remember his sordid past of overreach. Remember, he is the dude who called out the South Dakota National Guard on a private citizen.

  12. Jenny 2018-09-24 16:45

    Its true Snappy, the Republican Party’s main focus is promoting business interests and how to profit.
    The problem is greedy corporatists
    Have taken over your party and they’ve forgotten the workers,Which is why so many Americans are living from paycheck to paycheck today.

  13. Jenny 2018-09-24 16:50

    Every day you come on here Snappy, and recite your diatribe against us, I was just dishing it back.

  14. RJ 2018-09-24 16:51

    OS, I have read your responses to many of the other posters and Cory’s well thought out and insightful posts. I know where you stand..Youre homophobic, racist and extremely immature for someone with white hair. Free speech is central to what we are as a country, but please know that every ounce of ignorant vitriol you toss on people, is more of a reflection on you, then on them.

  15. Ryan 2018-09-24 16:58

    This is an honest question – do you people think that the two major political parties define what people are? Do you all really think every democrat is progressive and wants equality and is interested in paying the taxes necessary to give every person who asks for it a free ride in life? Do you all really think every republican is racist? And homophobic? Do any of you see gray areas in any issue? Do any of you understand that your own party is made up of imperfect humans, just like the party you don’t claim? You call all these people who disagree with you terrible names without any evidence that those labels are actually applicable.

    I hate to boil this down to something so basic, but doesn’t it seem weird to any of you that pretty much everyone selects their political ideology based on what letter – R or D – benefits them the most on a financial level?

    I am being serious. Do you all not see how judgmental you are of total strangers or do you think you are allowed to because you are “one of the good ones”?

  16. Porter Lansing 2018-09-24 17:02

    WRONG … Democrats are Democrats because we enjoy helping those with less. Republicans are Republicans because they enjoy helping themselves, no matter how much they already have.

  17. Jenny 2018-09-24 17:13

    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I would much much rather live in a neighborhood full of Somali Muslims and beautiful LGBT people then a neighborhood of South Dakota hate filled racists.
    The ironic thing is, immigrants have kept some South Dakota towns alive by working in their factories buying and spending at the grocery stores, gas stations, local car dealerships, all the other MainStreet businesses. South Dakotans cant even appreciate that.

  18. Donald Pay 2018-09-24 17:17

    The problem of being older is that I can remember that it was the Regents and the college presidents who led the “no free speech movement” back during the Oahe Irrigation battles. College professors back in those days were badly mistreated if they dared to speech out against, or even questioned, the various state-approved data regarding things such as whether soils could be irrigated without salting up. I seem to recall, as well, or college newspapers and student journalists who got too far off the reservation regarding the state support of the Oahe Project were, if not censored, at least got a good talking to.

    South Dakota has done, generally, a poor job of basic academic freedom, let alone free speech. What we’ve seen is free speech for the politically favored and STFU for those who others.

  19. Porter Lansing 2018-09-24 17:29

    Conservatives hate college now because students can’t express their right wing values in class without reprisal No Kidding!! Like this is new? As a liberal during the Vietnam War, attending class in Business College at USD, I damn well kept my mouth shut and my anti-war views to myself or I failed. Cut and dry. Higher education is about listening and learning not about trying to change the mind of the professor.

  20. Ryan 2018-09-24 17:30

    Jenny, your bias is showing. Again. Is it your assumption that there are no racist somali muslims? Or racist gay people? Let me burst your bubble: there are.

    I’d rather live in a neighborhood of nice, respectful people – regardless of their race, religion, or genital preference.

  21. OldSarg 2018-09-24 17:35

    No Porter, we do not “hate” colleges. That is silly and shrill. You need to cool out. College has a place but it is not the place for everyone. I agree with Donald, South Dakota colleges do a good job overall and had been moving towards more work qualifying areas of study which better prepares our youth for the “real world”.

  22. OldSarg 2018-09-24 17:38

    Jenny, do you truly feel there are neighborhoods filled with racist in South Dakota or is your view from afar with no real understanding of what goes on in the state you do not live?

  23. Jenny 2018-09-24 17:42

    I have a tendency to stand for anything that South Dakotans are against. I guess I am making up for all those years I was stifled in South Dakota, when I was to afraid to speak out.
    I will contiune to fight for the forgotten ones like the trangenders that are bullied everday, the one that are ridiculed because of their color, the ones that suffer from mental illness yet can not afford to go for help.
    South Dakota need to ask themselves what kind of Christians do they want to be.

  24. OldSarg 2018-09-24 17:43

    “South Dakota need to ask themselves what kind of Christians do they want to be”

    You need either move back or butt out. . .

  25. RJ 2018-09-24 17:48

    Ryan, I was going to respond to your original post as objectively as possible, but then I read your response to Jenny. There are things about ourselves that we can’t change. Our skin color, where we were born and our sexual orientation or as you put it ( genital preference), which is a epically douchey and reductive term. We can change how we treat people. We can choose kindness. We can choose respect. These are things that as a whole the GOP hasn’t chosen. As it relates to Cory’s original post, I think that college students and people in general should be able to speak freely. So, please keep talking..

  26. Jenny 2018-09-24 17:52

    OS, I guarantee you I could walk Down Main Street South Dakota any day and sooner or later I would hear a racist comment about the native Americans that live on the reservations there.

  27. bearcreekbat 2018-09-24 18:02

    Jenny, regarding your comments at 14:01 and 16:50, it is not all that clear which party, if any, that OS thinks he speaks for. Republicans that I know personally don’t share the most pernicious views expressd in his comments, and I have yet to meet a single Democrat who has expressed views that might fit his description. I would classify OS as “sui generis,” or pretty much one of a kind, in his views about Democrats and anyone else he describes as “you people” or by some other stereotype.

    But that is the beauty of free speech. We are all free to express our viewpoint, even when that expression reveals our own deep seated fear and insecurity about fellow human beings who share our planet, so long as we don’t make threats or use language to incite violence or lie about other individuals. In that sense OS provides a view into his mind, which, if not such powerful evidence of internal pain and contradictions, might even be considered comic relief.

  28. Jenny 2018-09-24 18:06

    Come on Sarge,
    What makes you think that racism isn’t out there? That there aren’t People that lookdown upon others because of their skin color or sexual preference ?

  29. Alexander Rushe 2018-09-24 18:12

    “Freedom only for the members of the government, only for the members of the Party — though they are quite numerous — is no freedom at all. Freedom is always the freedom of dissenters.” – Rosa Luxenburg

    People, left or right, owe it to their own intellectual faculties to question the world around them, but most importantly, question themselves. If we continue silencing people for purported hate-speech, for being uncivil, for challenging deeply held notions, then we are bankrupting our own capacity to learn and advance. If vitriol unnerves you, then perhaps the marketplace of ideas is not the place for you. Debate demands adversity (not an abundance of civility.)

  30. Porter Lansing 2018-09-24 18:16

    It’s easy for the R party and those that post here to claim they’re not racist because they don’t know any minorities and don’t really want to meet any. That aside, those people ARE highly “classist”. e.g. – You might be white, alright but you don’t have the clothes, the schools or the church that we have. You’re second class in our club.

  31. happy camper 2018-09-24 18:30

    I was working on an old house a couple summers ago and noticed two guys lived together next door. One drove a white RAM the other a red one. I was friendly to both but came to realize the one that drove the white truck was friendlier than the other who was obviously his brother they looked a lot alike. Over time, with more observation it became clear the one with the white truck was more responsible. When he came home he mowed the lawn, always waved with a smile, just carried himself better. He did all the work! The other brother with the red truck often came home with a case of beer, went right in the house sometimes with a scowl and no wave. As time passed I was less friendly to him but always waved at the brother with the white truck. I kind of resented the freeloading brother on behalf of the good one it sure seemed funny how these brothers came out so different, that’s what I was thinking to myself, birth order, how their parents treated them, things like that. Then one day I was talking to a different neighbor and started talking about the two brothers that lived together next door. He looked at me like I was crazy there were no brothers living at that house, just one guy who owned two pickups and alternated which one he drove, but I started labeling them differently, interacting differently with each as I “came to understand” their personality differences. I’m only admitting this cause I’m anonymous, but my point is the power of labeling can be very detrimental this forced to realize. It did explain why they looked so much alike but I even thought the “responsible one” was considerably better looking than the “irresponsible one.” True story.

  32. OldSarg 2018-09-24 18:56

    Jenny, racism is within yourself. You either decide to be racist or not. You have decided that you are the great arbiter of all things racist or not racist. I think you may need to rethink your own views if you feel you see racism on every corner.

    bearcreek this is the issue: “But that is the beauty of free speech” your party is taking out the beauty by using hateful nasty names for anyone who disagrees with the majority on this site. I love to debate back and forth but once it becomes a name calling hatefest it worries me as many of these posters walk freely on our streets endangering all of us. When Porter threatened to put a boot on my neck all I thought of was of brown shirted nazis and how much hurt he was willing to commit on others simply because of their political views. Jenny runs around and declares everyone she sees on South Dakota streets is screaming racism but the only racist screech I hear is from her. Honestly, it is all this hate filled rhetoric that takes the fun out of all of this.

  33. Porter Lansing 2018-09-24 19:01

    Os… Boot – Neck – November – metaphor – half-educated haybilly – drop for five until you think normal – boot/neck/November

  34. Porter Lansing 2018-09-24 19:11

    Hc … You’re talking about yourself, aren’t you? About the two people that live in your body? About the two personalities that you present when you post here under different names? You’re not anonymous. I know exactly who you are.

  35. Ryan 2018-09-24 19:14

    RJ, you not liking my word choice doesn’t make it any less descriptive and accurate. I think people who use the word epic are trying way too hard, but I’m guessing you don’t care about what I think of your word choices, either, so I’ll accept it as a draw.

    That being said, you and I appear to agree about what we want in our neighborhoods. I was simply calling out Jenny for her lumping people together based on their immutable characteristics, like national origin and “sexual orientation.” You and I agree that such lumping is harmful to society and our progress towards equality, right?

  36. OldSarg 2018-09-24 19:17

    No, I’m talking about you Porter. I am speaking specifically about you. You threatened to put a boot on my neck. No one else. It was you. Now, I could buck up and threaten you as well but that isn’t me. I see nothing positive from threatening others. You did it. You need to apologize. You shouldn’t have done it.

  37. bearcreekbat 2018-09-24 19:18

    OS, first I don’t know you and you don’t know me. You have never asked what “party” I belong to yet you make a factual statement about my “party.” That is not a debate, that is an assumption that sidesteps any debate. Nevertheless, I do appreciate the tone of your comment as such a tone does lend itself to a reasonable discussion. Indeed, the second part of your comment is a positive statement that merits a positive response.

    Thus second, you comment about name-callers interfering with your exercise of “free speech” overlooks what the concept of “free speech actually means – namely that our government, federal, state and local, cannot use the power of the law to restrict what we say, subject to a few defined exceptions. Responses by private posters to your comments do nothing to interfere with or denigrate your legally protected “free speech.” Any private individual shares your right, and your frequent exercise of that right, to call other posters names. Doing so has nothing to do with limiting your “free speech” rights.

  38. RJ 2018-09-24 19:18

    Lee Schoenbeck, as interpreted by your words..you are anti-immigration, Anti-lgbt. Anti black. Anti-Muslim. Guessing you’re probably pretty anti-woman, as well. And you have decided what Christianity look like? Did I miss anything?

  39. Ryan 2018-09-24 19:24

    Is Lee Schoenbeck on here? Did I miss something…?

  40. RJ 2018-09-24 19:24

    Hey Ryan, I try not to generalize..I often fail. I don’t think all GOP’ers are terrible. As a liberal, I don’t agree with everything that’s said. I definitely appreciate your willingness to have a conversation. A middle ground seems harder and harder to find.

  41. Porter Lansing 2018-09-24 19:26

    OldApe … Actually I was saying the Democrats are going to put a boot on the neck of Republicans in Washington in November. But, since you make everything about yourself and can’t see or empathize about others … I “will” put a boot on your, personal neck. Does that make you feel better? Give me a reason and you can count on it.

  42. leslie 2018-09-24 19:28

    sarge-u and grudz think u can yell hate and it is so. not here fella. u started name calling, belligerent posts. u haven’t changed. if u live in rc u have heard racism. I just heard it buying auto parts. jfc

    dems are kind, good, fair and gentle with little people. if u think u can bully us with GOP bs, u are gonna get strong responses.

  43. jerry 2018-09-24 19:35

    happy camper, I know those guys, both of them said the same thing about you, that you were kind of lazy and tried to get in their business. They both wished that you would find something to do and leave them alone and fix your clunker. True story

  44. Porter Lansing 2018-09-24 19:40

    BTW, OldSarge … Kavanaugh is toast. Just an Irish lawyer with a drinking problem. Two words “Renate alumni.”

  45. happy camper 2018-09-24 19:45

    Nobody got the point of my story. You’re labeling each other red and white pickups and ascribing a personality because of an R or D. Progressives don’t think they label and prejudge, but they do, I see guilt on both sides including my own. At least Porter has a sense of humor (at times) you don’t see how foolish you all are but I see it. Takes one to know one.

  46. RJ 2018-09-24 19:52

    Happy camper..I truly liked your story. I see where you are going. I would rather laugh then argue. Goodnight.

  47. jerry 2018-09-24 19:59

    Kavanaugh went to Jesuit school and graduated from there, then has the nerve to say that all of this happened 35 years ago, which somewhat coincidentally is the same kind of time frame that most molested children by priests suffered at the hands of the abusive. Abusers all fit the same pattern and in this case, it is young women. I would ask him, would you allow your daughters to hang with someone as indecent as yourself? Maryland is looking to fully investigate him criminally. trump sure knows how to pick’m.

  48. Ryan 2018-09-24 19:59

    Happy camper is right, and I agreed with him at 16:58, shortly before he even posted what he is correct about haha

  49. leslie 2018-09-24 20:03

    GOP are forward planners of mayhem. Regents are part and parcel. my fear is that they will drop kick us before the election with a Rosenstein drama (self inflicted republican?), another Anita Hill type debacle protecting Kavanaugh and flaying the lone female witness against his SCOTUS consent. Kavanaugh, Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas–can you imagime a worse future for the bulk of Americans? Schumer, Pelosi, and Feinstein must pull out the stops to halt and upright this sinking GOP national government. Frightening. Heart, Dems!!

  50. Ryan 2018-09-24 21:00

    Jenny, I wasn’t sure about Islamic beliefs regarding homosexuality, so I googled it, because I’m a curious type and I’m suspicious of organized religion… Turns out, from my quick and lazy googling, that the koran suggests punishing gay guys for being gay and most islamic scholars consider homosexuality to be a sin (just like the bible). So… I dunno if all your somali muslim friends want to be neighbors with all your beautiful gay friends.

    I am a wildly nonreligious white male. I’m not a Democrat, a Republican, or a robot. I grew up very “blue collar” and work in a very “white collar” field now. I don’t want anybody to be treated differently for what they are…only what they do.

    To a lot of ignorant big mouths, white men like me are basically the devil because we happen to have been born white males. But I don’t mind because they don’t know me, any more than they know the total strangers they pretend are perfect and innocent victims and relish “saving.” I think it’s funny and sad that compared to a lot of these people who rail against “the white man”…and compared to the bible…and compared to the koran…my beliefs and behaviors are apparently much more inclusive and open minded. I actually want all people treated equally, and with dignity and respect (until they prove they don’t deserve either, like those fart sniffers). Too bad so many others only pretend to want equality and simply hate people different from them without knowing them and without realizing how hypocritical they are.

  51. Donald Pay 2018-09-24 21:28

    Whose free speech are we protecting here? Let’s consider a likely scenario. If some haters get up to say, “Muslims are this or that untrue, hateful thing”, and some students or audience members take offense and start chanting “Haters off campus,” whose free speech rights are protected? Both are engaging in free speech, but neither is exactly civil. Uncivil behavior seems to be what the Regents are advocating. I hope they aren’t saying people have to listen politely to Hitler-style rants, because that ain’t giving the audience any free speech rights to boo the haters off campus. And booing them off campus is just as much free speech as anything else.

    I’m old enough to have been through the Vietnam War protests where this happened, where I actually participated in the shouting down a speaker. I’m not particularly proud of that now, but it seemed to be the best option at the time. I prefer orderly discussion and debate, but when people are dying or could die because someone is saying stupid, hateful stuff, I’m willing to overlook civility and mutual respect, and the Regents seem to be encouraging that. Or are they?

    I think there is a point where the free speech of someone else is hateful enough to be challenged, and halted. If, for example, someone is being bullied or called names, I would step in and stop that. Now that might be seen as curtailing someone’s free speech rights, but I could care less. Sue me. If hateful things, prejudicial things are being said under the guise of education, I think anyone has the right to step up and forcefully challenge that, and if that means out-shouting the haters, that’s free speech, too.

    In South Dakota, people tend to be too polite. They may think they have to listen to the haters. The hell they do. Lovers have free speech rights too. And the Regents seem to be encouraging you to use them. Civility, as the Regents say, isn’t part of the consideration. Shout down the haters.

  52. Porter Lansing 2018-09-24 21:35

    Hear, Hear Don Pay.

  53. Jason 2018-09-24 21:50

    It’s obvious Donald Pay and most people on here don’t understand the issue.

    Look into the Berkeley and University of Minnesota lawsuits.

    There is a reason Cory didn’t bring those up.

    When is Susan Wismer going to answer my questions?

  54. Porter Lansing 2018-09-24 21:54

    Jason gaslight inconsequential misdirection. Any fool can file a lawsuit.

  55. Porter Lansing 2018-09-24 22:05

    Daily Wire is an invalid source.

  56. Ryan 2018-09-24 22:05

    Donald pay makes good points for sure but his stopping rude speech is different from actual infringement on free speech. For an infringement to occur, it must be a state actor, such as a law or regulation limiting speech. Freedom of speech is very narrow in its application to government behavior not citizen behavior. To that point, shouting down a moron is your true american right…and being shouted down is a risk of one’s exercise of his freedom of speech. The state should regulate each only to the extent of actual public safety issues such as false alarms of danger and true threats. I agree completely with the general idea of your post, though.

  57. jerry 2018-09-24 22:18

    As the right wing destroys freedom in the United States, there are voices of more rights for workers and for social justice that we can learn from. From Merry Old England who have seen the dangerous damage done with right wing economics.

    “LIVERPOOL, England — Britain’s opposition Labour Party laid out a blueprint on Monday for a sharp leftward turn in economic policy, gambling on the readiness of voters for a big expansion of the state’s role in the economy.

    “The greater the mess we inherit, the more radical we have to be,” the party’s economic spokesman, John McDonnell, told Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, England, to loud applause.

    Under the plan, firms with 250 employees or more would set aside a 10th of their shares for their workers, 10.7 million in all, who would receive up to $650 a year in dividends. Mr. McDonnell also proposed nationalizing critical utilities, giving a third of the seats on company boards to workers and making firms prove that they paid their rightful share of tax.” One thing that is for sure, with the fair tax collected, the UK can start to claw back what has been stolen from the purses of ordinary workers and their pensions.

  58. mike from iowa 2018-09-25 16:23

    I find it passing strange that OldSferbrains accuses Dems of stifling free speech when OldSferbrains tells non-North Mississipians to keep their comments out of state.

  59. mike from iowa 2018-09-25 16:31

    Poor little snowflake was not prevented from handing out cards. She was told it had to be done in a free speech zone and she whined because she couldn’t be disruptive there.

    Much ado about horse puckey since only right wing sites are making a big deal out of this.

  60. o 2018-09-25 18:00

    MFI – oh, but you don’t understand, it was CHRISTIAN, so handing them out to anyone anywhere is OK . . . it’s CHRISTIAN. (snark!)

    Free speech test for Jason: would it also be OK in your world view if she were going all over campus, handing out Islamic literature? Pro-abortion rights literature? Black Lives Matter literature? #MeToo Literature? . . .

  61. Porter Lansing 2018-09-25 18:27

    SDGOP – Is this the free speech you want around our students? It does seem to be what you believe and repeat.
    ~ USAReally might look like any other fledgling news organization. But there is a wealth of evidence that it is part of a retooled Russian propaganda operation.
    The company is based in Moscow. Its formation was announced by the Federal News Agency, a Russian media conglomerate that has ties to the “troll farm” whose employees were indicted by the special counsel for interfering in the 2016 presidential election.
    And USAReally’s website deploys the same divisive content Russian trolls circulated then, down to their conspiratorial tone and telltale grammatical errors (“Rabid Squirrels Is Terrorizing Florida”).

  62. OldSarg 2018-09-25 18:27

    o no one is trying to prevent muslims, baby killers, BLM (wanna kill cops) from spreading whatever they choose. We just want mfi to make sense. It has been our goal for months but we can apply that standard to most of you.

    Here is what I like: The majority of you, instead of defending our present Constitution, laws and civil society, all think you are so brilliant you are smarter than all the men and women who built this Nation but you just can’t seem to write any original ideas down to replace what we have now. You only trash what has proven more successful than any republic in the history of the world. I’m not saying you are stupid, except mfi, but I am saying; if you think you are so brilliant then why in the hell are you wasting your time here? Now, it didn’t work for me but seriously; read jerry’s post aloud to yourself in the mirror and then observe the stupidity on your face.

  63. Porter Lansing 2018-09-25 18:32

    Is that where you and your boy Jason work, OS? At USAReally? Busted, Comrades.

  64. OldSarg 2018-09-25 18:39

    Busted? Oh, that’s right! You’re the “Boot on the neck” guy!!!! Pretty good for a stoner from Colorado Porter. Why don’t you cure what ails ya in Colorado before trashing folks from South Dakota? You don’t live here bud. You could, but you don’t. Very sad. Stay there with all your California folks. We are fine and free without you.

  65. Porter Lansing 2018-09-25 18:48

    I love South Dakota, OS. Nothing could be finer than to have gravy breakfast at Talley’s with The Conservatives With Common Sense. SD is a wonderful place to live. I need to be closer to my Doctor, though.

  66. OldSarg 2018-09-25 19:06

    No, I don’t believe you Porter. There are good docs here as well. You left for a reason other than the excuse it is medical. I love in Rapid and the quality of care here is every bit as good as Colorado. Come back and live here. This is peace. Well, at least the west side.

  67. mike from iowa 2018-09-25 19:23

    but you just can’t seem to write any original ideas down to replace what we have now.

    Coming from the one and original talking point bloviator. A paid troll no less.

  68. Porter Lansing 2018-09-25 19:25

    Yeah. I wasn’t going to bring it up but that living on stolen Indian land is kind of a deal breaker. I think it would be disrespectful to Roger Cornelius. I’d probably move back to Keyhole.

  69. mike from iowa 2018-09-25 19:30

    If there are good doctors in south Dakota, how is it OldSourpuss and Jason aren’t carted off by the guys in white and safely institutionalized?

    OldSquirky is so full of caca del toro he should be considered hazardous waste and placed on the Superfund clean up site list.

  70. OldSarg 2018-09-25 19:42

    Proof he is an idiot “OldSquirky is so full of caca del toro he should be considered hazardous waste and placed on the Superfund clean up site list.”

  71. OldSarg 2018-09-25 19:45

    Come back Porter. Life is easy here.

  72. o 2018-09-25 19:54

    OldSarge: “Here is what I like: The majority of you, instead of defending our present Constitution, laws and civil society, all think you are so brilliant you are smarter than all the men and women who built this Nation but you just can’t seem to write any original ideas down to replace what we have now.”

    You mean like how you call those who favor abortion rights (a Constitutionally guaranteed right) “baby killers?” You are OK with Roe because it is the “present Constitution?”

    My experience with you and Jason on this blog is similar: when the name calling and mud throwing happens, you are calling and throwing with the best; but when actually confronted with the very arguments you ask for, thoughtful refutation and articulation of positions, you and Jason ghost the discussion at that point. By all means, jump in and speak as you want (within the generous limits Cory has set for anyone who wishes to post on his blog), but do not endeavor to take any moral high ground as to the level or quality of discussion your presence creates.

  73. Porter Lansing 2018-09-25 20:04

    No, way OS. Big cities have way better entertainment options. More diversity of friends, also. Better sports, bigger mountains, better hunting and fishing and liberal fundamentals.

  74. Debbo 2018-09-25 20:22

    Remember OS, as long as you insist that only current SD residents should be able to comment on this topic, that means you may not comment on any topics about women.

    Quid pro quo.

  75. Debbo 2018-09-25 20:39

    OS and Ryan complain of imperfect understandings of their comments, while imperfectly describing the comments of others.

    Ryan mentions something about attacks on white males, which is a perfect example of the latter. Well done Ryan. Now I’ve explained this before, but I’ll do it again.

    *I have named the statistical fact that white males have killed more Americans than anyone else since 9/11.
    *I have stated that white male privilege exists, and has for centuries. This is based on hundreds, if not thousands of academic and government studies, demographics, censuses and blindingly obvious observation.
    *I have clearly expressed frustration with the harmful aspects of dominant white male culture and urged white males to take responsibility for it, even though they did not create it, because they profit from it, perhaps unwillingly, and their position of privilege gives them the greatest power to bring about that change.

    What Ryan, OS and Grudz hear is that I am picking on white males and I hate them. Go figure.

    There is an allure to identifying as a victim. As part of the female demographic which is frequently the victim, I think I can speak for nearly all of us when I say, truly being victimized just isn’t that much fun, boys. In fact, we women and girls are in the biggest fight of our gender’s history because we are so entirely sick and tired of being the object of our lives, rather than subject. We’re not going to stop till we’ve achieved that equality.

    Now Ryan and OS, you can feel free to ask me questions seeking clarity, or pick a few bits and pieces of my words to make up whatever suits your narrative.

  76. Porter Lansing 2018-09-25 20:46

    Hear, hear Debbo. “Comfort the afflicted. Afflict the comfortable.” You don’t pick on white males anymore than I do and neither of us do it nearly enough. Especially that ungifted threesome.

  77. OldSarg 2018-09-25 21:29

    Debbo, are you this filled with hate in your private life? I wonder what pain you have gone through and pray for you that you find peace. I just don’t know what it would be like to go through, day to day, with so much dislike for 50% of humanity. To be so foolish that you think you can change others through nasty attacks must be tough. I hope you find your inner peace.

  78. Debbo 2018-09-25 22:19

    So you’re saying OS, that either you didn’t read my comment or you settled on this option:
    “pick a few bits and pieces of my words to make up whatever suits your narrative.”

    That’s the only way your response makes any sense at all. Interesting.

  79. Porter Lansing 2018-09-25 22:24

    He’s in AA, again. Drunk on insincere religion. Pity the poor soul …

  80. Jason 2018-09-25 23:29

    0 wrote:

    Free speech test for Jason: would it also be OK in your world view if she were going all over campus, handing out Islamic literature? Pro-abortion rights literature? Black Lives Matter literature? #MeToo Literature? . . .

    It’s not a world view. It’s a US view because not many Countries have freedom of speech. The answer to your question is yes.

    I’m guessing you really have never thought of living in a Country where you don’t have freedom of speech.

  81. mike from iowa 2018-09-26 07:10

    To be so foolish that you think you can change others through nasty attacks must be tough.

    OldSonambulance spews this very garbage every day in every post. Wah! you don’t listen when I tell you you can’t win. Wah!!!!

  82. mike from iowa 2018-09-26 07:14

    OldSolicitation confuses idiot with being perceptive. OldSnohomish is full of caca del toro and should be considered a hazardous waste site.

  83. mike from iowa 2018-09-26 07:15

    Bad olde Ryan confuses mimicry with mockery, too.

  84. o 2018-09-26 08:14

    Jason, “I’m guessing you really have never thought of living in a Country where you don’t have freedom of speech.”

    First, not only have I thought about living in a country without free speech, I have thought deeply about a country that stifles academic freedom and the general ability for truth and reason to be spoken. I have thought deeply about an Orwellian government and a Marxist revolution where truth is among the first casualties. That is what concerns me so deeply when I see the US rub up against those edges.

    Second, I may well be the only person on this blog who ACTIVELY chose US citizenship.

    But please continue telling me what I think and who I am.

  85. mike from iowa 2018-09-26 12:38

    https://www.rawstory.com/2018/09/texas-ag-argues-black-girl-forced-stand-pledge-didnt-permission-sit/

    Girl was booted from school, her mother sued and won and Texas AG (twice indicted on security fraud and had wingnut judges toss the charges twice) intervenes saying the girl’s mom should have asked permission for girl to sit through pledge.

    I thought this was settled law- you can’t force students to stand or even recite pledge, but hope springs eternal for wingnuts in their quest for kristian sharia l;aw in Amerika.

  86. Jason 2018-09-26 12:50

    o, wrote:

    I have thought deeply about a country that stifles academic freedom and the general ability for truth and reason to be spoken.

    Please give us evidence of this.

  87. OldSarg 2018-09-26 16:29

    Damn folks! I’ve been gone for 24 hrs, Montana, Wyoming now back and I expected you’all might have gotten a bit smarter or even witty but I was wrong. I’ve been listening to a bunch of classic country. Conway Twitty is playing now and as his mellow voice rolls out I’m thinking of how the left is destroying a truly good man with lies and I now better understand the hate you all spew out and know it isn’t really you as you don’t have the sense to come up with even such stupid crap but you are just repeating all the nastiness you hear in the news. You guys need to change. You are turning off America.

  88. mike from iowa 2018-09-26 16:40

    OldSycophant went to Montana. I blush to guess what he did where men are men and sheep are nervous.

    Kavanaugh does seem to mimic Drumpf as he appears to be a stranger to truth.

    And drumpf managed to turn off the entire civilized world today at the UN. A feat not even the worst dictators in history had ever accomplished.

  89. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-09-26 18:46

    Jason,

    Please give us evidence of what “please”, “give”, “us”, “evidence”, “of” and “this” mean when you use them. Please give us evidence that those expressions signify real things and not merely subjective opinions or constructs.

  90. Ryan 2018-10-02 19:30

    Debbo, I don’t think I have ever interacted with any person in my life as wrong as you.

  91. Jason 2018-10-14 09:53

    A student in North Carolina was forced to remove a red, white, and blue USA sports jersey with Donald Trump’s name on it that he wore to a patriot-themed school football game, according to reports.
    The student’s father, Mike Collins, slammed Harnett Central High School in Angier, North Carolina, for forcing his 18-year-old son to remove the Trump jersey. Saying that the school’s reason for its action was ridiculous, according to ABC 11.

    Collins says that the school told his son that the shirt was “disruptive.” He said his son complied but that he was so humiliated that he left the game.

    The High School principal was the one that did it and now has lost their job.

    https://twitter.com/HarnettCoSchool/with_replies

  92. jerry 2018-10-14 10:10

    I was wondering why I got smarter and now I know, the Russian was gone! Whewey and then I was wondering what that stench was, and now I know, the Russian is back.

  93. OldSarg 2018-10-14 10:21

    I’m in Ohio right now but ‘m getting ready to load in the plane heading back to an even more conservative state with the intent to keep it a very conservative God loving state. Should be back in time for dinner. I’m think ham and scalloped potatoes served with a side our South Dakota resident FREEDOM dressing.

    Jason, of those posting here only you, Cory and me even live in South Dakota. The rest are outta state agitators who have been driven from the state but can’t keep their noses out of our business.

  94. jerry 2018-10-14 11:53

    I think that whatever the board of education decides is up to them. If they get sued, then that is up to the taxpayers to pay.

    In the case of the jersey, as there were complaints, then the principal’s job is to quell the issue. As simple as removing the jersey should have solved it. Now, students can see that they can where whatever they want to and express whatever their political feelings are. I believe in the First Amendment of course, but in the case of this jersey, I feel the principal was correct to take care of it at the time to prevent more of the same with students who are not trumpers. Then what?

  95. Jason 2018-10-14 12:00

    —Taxpayer-supported National Public Radio refused to run sponsored ads describing Gosnell as an “abortionist” because its legal department determined the accurate description violated the left-leaning network’s “value neutral” platform.

    It’s time to stop the Federal funding of NPR.

  96. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-10-14 17:35

    Yes, let’s end taxpayer funding of all speech that I find offensive and /or refutable. There goes Sarah Sanders’s paycheck.

  97. Debbo 2018-10-14 19:48

    Excellent point Cory. I think I should be the arbiter of what is acceptable speech. I have more right to do so than those on the paytroll.

  98. Jason 2018-10-14 20:22

    Cory,

    I’m saying to end taxpayer funding of businesses that don’t follow the First Amendment. Your statement makes no sense in regards to mine.

Comments are closed.