Minor victory for 1st Amendment rights in schools, but a bigger victory was missed

Students do not give up their 1st Amendment rights when they enter the classroom.  This truth has been challenged in recent years by forces in society who seem bent on making young Americans as delicate and needy as possible by the time they graduate high school and college. 

A lawsuit in Oregon put the 1st Amendment to the test.  A student was removed from class and suspended for wearing a pro-border wall t-shirt and refusing to cover it up.  The school district ended up settling for $25,000 to cover legal fees and an apology by the principle. 

Addison Barnes, who graduated this year from Liberty High School in Hillsboro, Ore., outside Portland, filed a lawsuit in federal court in May alleging that the school violated his First Amendment rights when it punished him for wearing the shirt to a politics class discussion about immigration.  The shirt said “Donald J. Trump Border Wall Construction Co.,” and “The Wall Just Got 10 Feet Taller.” 

The controversial shirt was likely intended by both the manufacturer and Barnes to stir up feelings on both sides of the political spectrum.  Whether one agrees with the message is irrelevant, though.  As an American, he has the right to express his opinions in this way. 

The settlement is being heralded as a victory for American rights in general and student rights in particular.  We’ll take it.  However, it would have been nice if it could have come in the form of a ruling rather than a settlement.  Setting specific precedent for use in future cases only happens if a judge makes a ruling. 

There will always be cases like these popping up as long as liberals continue their attacks on our freedoms.  Unfortunately, it isn’t just the liberals nowadays.  For the sake of pressing an agenda, even many conservative lawmakers have been attacking our rights when they get in the way of their master plan (see Patriot Act).  It is imperative that every freedom-loving American band together to apply a true federalist approach to governance, just as our founders intended. 

As predicted, Trump offers DACA amnesty in exchange for border wall

Throughout Trump’s first two years in office, I’ve been one of only a handful of conservative voices shouting from the rooftops that the New York liberal’s promise to fix America’s out-of-control illegal immigration problem was nothing but a lie. 

As a candidate, Trump promised to build a “big beautiful powerful wall” on our southern border at Mexico’s expense, and he promised to overturn Obama’s unconstitutional Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) executive order that allowed illegals to stay in America indefinitely.  Unfortunately, the “wall” has become an “artistically designed” barrier of some sort funded by the U.S. taxpayer, and DACA is not only still in effect, it’s on its way to becoming permanent. 

While the reality of Trump’s broken promises dealing with illegal immigration have been crystal clear to those not drinking the orange Kool-Aid, his inevitable betrayal on the issue has been brought sharply into focus since last summer. 

In June 2018, Paul Ryan proposed a plan that would allow DREAMers to legally stay in the country and be put on the pathway to citizenship in exchange for $23 billion for building a border wall. 

Following their September 2018 budget betraying funding everything from Planned Parenthood to DACA and sanctuary cities, rumors began spreading around Washington that Trump was ready to cut an immigration deal with Democrats in light of the reality that the Democrats were about to retake the House in the midterms. 

The Democrats did retake the House, and in the days since their victory, Trump and the GOP have been laying the foundation for their inevitable immigration betrayal.  With the help of Trump’s son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner, trading DACA amnesty for a border wall is now the official position of the Trump administration and the GOP-controlled Senate. 

Three years?  I’m sure it’s just a coincidence, but that’s just enough time to kick the can down the road until after his 2020 election … assuming there is one.  And just in case there are any doubts about the motivation behind this three-year timeframe, consider this: Mitch McConnell, who has refused to let the Senate vote on the shutdown, has endorsed Trump’s offer and will hold vote on it this week. 

I commend @POTUS for his leadership in proposing this bold solution to reopen the government, secure the border, and take bipartisan steps toward addressing current immigration issues. My full statement: https://t.co/3lfItBQzEC

Daniel Greenfield, Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, made a video about the book that prompted me to order it.  Both men are respected defenders of freedom and watchmen over the threat of jihad in America, Israel, and around the world. 

As he is wont to do, Greenfield points to leftist politicians as enablers of the jihadists by turning a blind eye to the rise of sharia law across America. 

“These servants of the people, public servants, they’re actually masters of the people.  They prefer to dictate than to be dictated to.  Now, of course, Islamic terrorists will, in their own time, dictate to them.  They will dictate to them using Islamic sharia law, but as far as the left is concerned for the moment, these are the people who need them, who are badly, desperately in need of being defended and protected and of course will happily trade their votes in exchange for getting a few benefits on the side.” 

He continues on, examining the book’s sober pronouncements of intolerance of anything and anyone who does not bow to sharia law.  To jihadists, there is only one acceptable way to live and all other perspectives must be subjugated or eliminated. 

“Islamic terrorists have no attraction for anything really positive in life,” Greenfield continues. “ They’re drawn to destruction.  They’re drawn to emptiness because they themselves are empty.  They’re hollow, and that is a central principle of Jamie Glazov’s excellent book.” 

Patriots ranging from Steven Emerson to John Bolton are publicly recommending this book.  I ordered my copy after watching Greenfield’s video.  Freedom-loving Americans should watch it and consider reading “Jihadist Psychopath” by Jamie Glazov. 

Related

Matt Walsh speaks out on #CovingtonCatholic students and the fake controversy surrounding them

When white Catholic students wearing MAGA hats are caught on video face-to-face with Native Americans on one side and Black Hebrew Israelites on the other, they’re definitely bigoted white supremacist hatemongers who went out looking for minorities to persecute.  At least that’s how mainstream media and a good chunk of social media reacted when they saw the initial videos and images of smirking MAGA children. 

But that’s not how it went down.  It was the exact opposite of how it went down. 

When the story first broke, I saw many of my fellow conservatives on Twitter scolding the kids while the progressive gangs attacked them.  I held my tongue.  It’s not because I don’t speak out against bigotry regardless of which side of the political, religious, or cultural aisle it comes from, but something seemed fishy.  Other than having a disconcerting smirk, I didn’t see anything in the kids that resembled the type of bigoted outbursts we’ve seen in the past from actual white supremacists, Antifa, or other hate groups. 

It seemed staged.  As it turned out, it wasn’t quite staged, per se, but it was manufactured by the two “victim” groups who went after the MAGA kids, not the other way around.  As political and religious commentator Matt Walsh asked, were they supposed to drop down to the fetal position when approached by the two groups? 

2) They start screaming insults at the high school kids, who were just standing there clearly waiting around for something.  They call the kids "incest children" and other insults.  The kids respond by drowning the slurs with pep rally style cheers. 

4) That's it.  The end.  The kids did not instigate anything, did not harass anyone, did not insult anyone, did not do anything wrong.  The Black Israelites are obnoxious racists.  Nathan Phillips was clearly trying to provoke something and when he didn't succeed he just lied instead

Hot takes on social and legacy media are often based on incomplete pictures.  Before people get outraged and attack others over perceptions based on partial evidence, perhaps we should wait until the whole story comes to light.  Just a thought.