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Reasonable limits of the First Amendment
Rankin, MS, shows the way to deal with the Westboro funeral-disrupting goons. The video shows they know how to honor a fallen soldier as well.
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Indy Week has the track in the video available as free download.
The First amendment says the Congress may not abridge free speech by law...it doesn't say that free speech is protected from all consequences and from all parties outside the Federal Government.
Hate speech and fighting words that contravene the moral sense of the community can have consequences like tar and feathers. If the lefties can with impunity shout down conservative speakers and advocates of Israel who come to their campuses, then a few folks in Mississippi can also be expected to behave similarly when they find something that offends their moral sense. They can't prevent the Phelps Phungal Phamily from speaking, period, just make it clear there are limits to civility that may not be crossed in their community.
And it's not hypocritical to judge that the lefties who prevent conservative speakers from holding civil discourse are being uncivil...those speakers can or should be able to go off campus and speak ...the Phelps group are also being uncivil by harassing families at or around funeral sites ...if you want to protest a government policy, go talk to the government, not to a grieving family at a funeral who had no role in making policy....and if they get punched out, the person who did the punching would be liable for battery, and a jury of his peers could decide the specifics of the case, whether what was said were "fighting words."
Seriously, nobody sees a problem with this precedent?
"A few made it to the funeral but were ushered away to be questioned about a crime they might have possibly been involved in. Turns out, after a few hours of questioning, that they were not involved and they were allowed to go on about their business."
That was great. My respects to the citizens of Rankin.