Free Speech?

 “I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

This quote is attributed to Patrick Henry (one of the “Founding Fathers”) during the discussions relevant to the (now) first amendment during the 1st Session of Congress (1789-1791); the quote is also attributed to Voltaire, a French Enlightenment philosopher and writer. It is entirely possible that Henry heard about Voltaire’s quote and decided to recycle it. But who said it first is not relevant to today’s discussion!

We have heard in the news, both Fox and mainstream, of the deportation of green-card holder Mahmoud Khalil for, according to our federal government, being anti-semitic and a supporter of Hamas. His own words however, do not support that conclusion. In an interview with CNN reporter Chelsea Bailey on March 12, 2025, Khalil stated: “There is no place, of course, for anti-Semitism. What we are witnessing is anti-Palestinian sentiment that is taking different forms, and anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism [are] some of those forms.”

The group Khalil is a member of, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, was asking that Columbia University stop investing its $14.8 billion endowment in companies supporting Israel’s government, close the University outpost in Tel Aviv, and end collaboration with Israeli universities. (For those of you with long memories, you might recall similar actions taken by universities including Columbia relative to South Africa’s Apartheid government until its collapse in 1993-1994.)

Khalil has not been accused of breaking any laws. He has not had a day in court. Yet the government of the United States of America, more precisely the Trump administration, has taken him into detention, and deported him, for speaking his mind, for protesting, for caring. You and I may not agree with Khalil, or with his stance about Israel and the war it is conducting in Gaza, but I ask you: Should a person be deported for speaking their mind? In a country that prides itself on the first amendment; in a country were there have always been people whose ideas did not mesh with the administration at the time; in a country where we are allowed to have, and voice, our own opinions, should this have happened?

Khalil did not vandalize any buildings; he did not storm police barricades; he did not break into government buildings; he did not participate in a hunt to hang anyone. The people who did those things on Jan 6th have been pardoned, but a person speaking out, exercising the 1st amendment rights, is deported?

There is a lot wrong with this picture, I believe.

I’d like to know what you think about this issue. Please feel free to leave comments in the space below.

R.M.. “Bob” Hartman 

"Just the Fact's, Ma'am"

 There are facts, and there are opinions. Just because you don’t like the facts, does not make them any less of reality; it just means you are uncomfortable with the facts. Conversely, just because you, or a group you align with, has an opinion that runs counter to facts, it is still only that: an opinion. The late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senator, is given credit for this well-written statement “ Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”

Here’s a fact for you: An unruly mob attempted to overthrow the legally elected government of the United States of America on January 6th, 2021. By definition, this was an act of insurrection. In fact, it fit’s Merriam-Webster’s definition to the letter: an act or instance of revolting against civil authority or an established government. No matter who says it, no matter how high an authority figure they may be, it is not a love-fest when rioters are shouting “Hang Mike Pence” and other such hate. Pardoning those people who committed insurrection against our legally elected government is, in my opinion, unjustified. It makes a lie out of our system of all equal under the law. But this act of pardon is a subject for another article.

Another fact: In the general election held in 2024, convicted felon and former President Donald J. Trump won a second term as President with 49.8% of the popular vote, with the balance being divided up among the other candidates for President. That percentage-49.8%-is not a mandate, not a landslide, it is a plurality. Merriam-Webster again: (3) the greatest number of votes when not a majority.

Got time for one more fact? Russia invaded Ukraine.

Last one for today: Appeasement does not work. See the Munich Agreement, September 1938-when Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany agreed to let A. Hitler “annex” the Sudetenland, a part of Czechoslovakia.

The facts I mentioned above are FACTS, not alternative facts (?) but reality, writ large. I find it amazing, and quite frustrating, when people insist on proving to me the money spent on them for education failed to produce a quality product.

The next three years and 11 months will test the limits of the great experiment known as American Democracy. Our resolve, our determination to live in a free country, where there are checks and balances between the three branches of Government-as outlined in our Constitution-will be put out there for all the world to see. In a time when ultra-nationalist groups are pushing to punish “others”, when Fascists see a glimpse of potential power, when conflicts between democratic and dictatorial types of governments are approaching boiling points, will America stand as a supporter of Democracy?

Will you?

Thank you for reading, as always, your comments are welcome.

R.M. “Bob” Hartman