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Tag: Civil Liberties

Mullen: This Independence Day, you’re not as free as you think
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Miami Herald, Approved, National

Mullen: This Independence Day, you’re not as free as you think

By Paul Mullen | Miami Herald There's a lot to celebrate this Independence Day, as we mark the 249th anniversary of our national divorce from Great Britain and the abuses of King George III. Yet under the flags and fireworks, the hotdogs and hamburgers, and the checkered tablecloths camouflaged in red, white, and blue, lies an uncomfortable, ironic truth: You're not as free as you think. This may sound absurd, inappropriate, even unpatriotic. How could this be, in "the land of the free"? The fact is each of us is shackled by invisible economic, regulatory, and civil chains. Hidden in plain sight is a tangled, ever-expanding web of federal, state, and local taxes, programs, regulations, spending, and debt-the overwhelming majority of which unjustly constrain and violate our Go...
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Jacques: Colorado’s speech police aren’t protecting rights—they’re punishing dissent
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Approved, Commentary, State, USA Today

Jacques: Colorado’s speech police aren’t protecting rights—they’re punishing dissent

By Ingrid Jacques | Commentary, USA Today Colorado has threatened to sic the thought police on anyone who doesn't comply by using state-approved language about transgender people. You’d think that after two significant losses at the U.S. Supreme Court, Colorado would tread more carefully with its anti-discrimination laws.  No such luck. A new law, signed by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis in May, expands the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act to make deadnaming and misgendering transgender individuals a punishable offense. California, not surprisingly, has tried something similar but on a more limited basis. The updated Colorado provisions have already attracted lawsuits on the grounds that the law violates the U.S. Constitution, includ...
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The COvid Chronicles May 16–23, 2020: Deaths dipped—but the definition got slippery
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Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

The COvid Chronicles May 16–23, 2020: Deaths dipped—but the definition got slippery

By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board The fifth installment of RMV’s COvid Chronicles covers the strangest stretch yet—when deaths dipped, testing peaked, and the state quietly admitted not every COVID death was what they claimed. The contradictions were harder to hide, the public wasn’t playing along, and the illusion was cracking. Yes, these installments are longer than our usual coverage. So was the list of lies. We’re not about to shrink the story. More than two months into government-mandated shutdowns, Coloradans had lost patience—and begun reclaiming their fearlessness. After surrendering jobs, shuttering schools, isolating loved ones, and forfeiting springtime rites of faith and family, many started asking the obvious: What was all this really for? Yes, people had gotten...
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Colorado sued over law punishing ‘misgendering’: Doctors, parents cite First Amendment
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Approved, denvergazette.com, State

Colorado sued over law punishing ‘misgendering’: Doctors, parents cite First Amendment

By Marissa Ventrelli | Denver Gazette Several organizations and a western Colorado dermatologist have filed a lawsuit seeking to block specific provisions of a recently signed state law that, as originally introduced, would have defined "deadnaming" and "misgendering" as discriminatory acts but whose final version had been heavily modified.   The plaintiffs in the lawsuit included Defending Education, the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, Protect Kids Colorado, and Do No Harm. Travis Morrell, a Grand Junction dermatologist and member of Do No Harm, is also a plaintiff. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and Colorado Civil Rights Division members are named as defendants. All five groups believe that a person's gender identity "cannot differ from their sex ...
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