Posted on
August 17, 2004 in
While poking around the web looking for information on “free-speech zones” (trying to figure out how on earth they pass muster under the First Amendment), I happened upon numerous references to this:
In May of 2003, the Department of Homeland Security issued a terrorist advisory to local police departments warning them to be on the lookout for people who “expressed dislike of attitudes and decisions of the US government.”
There doesn’t seem to have been any mention of this advisory from the major media outlets. On the one hand, I haven’t seen the advisory (I’ll see if I can track down a copy). On the other, it does seem consistent with the Bush administration’s approach to the freedom of speech.
Seems to me a distinction between public and private property would be helpful here. In public areas, I expect freedom of speech. But on private property, I occupy the property at the pleasure of its owner. If I start talking trash to the owner, she would probably ask me to leave, and I would/should.