A round-up of the latest and best insight on the rise of illiberalism in the public discourse
Matthew Harwood: These Minnesota Parents Were Censored at a Public Meeting for Saying School Employees’ Job Titles
Blake and Katy DeMarais have a disabled, nonverbal son in Minnesota’s Foley Public Schools, and they say the district has been failing to provide him educational services. So they did what parents are supposed to do: they took their complaint to the school board’s public comment period.
At the June 22 meeting, Katy was interrupted the moment she mentioned the special education director, and ended up saying “blank” in place of the title. Blake was cut off for reading the word “superintendent” from an email. In August, it happened again when he read the superintendent’s name. Writing at Reason, Matthew Harwood argues the board’s practice violates its own 2024 policy, Minnesota law treating public employees’ names and titles as public data, and the First Amendment:
Regardless of what district policy or Minnesota law says, the Foley school board trampled on the DeMaraises’ First Amendment rights. When a school board opens a meeting to public comment, it can’t censor its constituents for criticizing school staff, much less simply naming them or mentioning their titles. A government body can constitutionally restrict some speech during a public comment period, such as limiting comment to a maximum allotted time or ensuring it’s on topic, but all those restrictions must be reasonable and viewpoint neutral. In its treatment of the DeMaraises, the Foley Public School Board has hit the trifecta, violating its own policy, state law, and the First Amendment.
Tom Slater: Why stop the boats when you can stop the protests?
The UK government likes immigration; it doesn’t want it citizens talking about it, however. When another large dinghy landed at Gosport on Sunday — by Tom Slater’s count at Spiked, the third attempted landing in Hampshire in a month — local anger spilled into the streets for the third time as well. Hampshire Constabulary’s answer was a set of sweeping orders: protest confined to a single car park, face coverings banned, and police empowered to order anyone out of the area on pain of arrest.
Slater argues the British state has its priorities exactly backwards, putting far more energy into managing public fury than into the crossings driving it. Even the Guardian‘s account, he notes, called the demonstration mostly peaceful:
With the government unwilling to crack down on the boats, it again fell to the police to crack down on the demonstrations. Yesterday, Hampshire Constabulary imposed a series of draconian orders, limiting any protests to a single car park, banning face-coverings and allowing the police to order anyone to leave the area, or otherwise risk arrest.
The optics could hardly be more toxic. A group of 150-odd men break into Britain and they are given the state-visit treatment. A group of residents kick off about it and they are herded into a protest pen and threatened with a night in the cells. The government’s failure to control the borders is forcing the state to take drastic measures – not to stop the boats or send the illegal migrants back, but to try to put a lid on public fury.
Megan Rosevear: Event at UC Berkeley mocking Charlie Kirk memorial draws scrutiny from State Department
On September 10, the first anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Berkeley’s Turning Point USA chapter held a memorial on campus. A few hours later, according to the Daily Californian, a separate crowd gathered for a “Kirkversary,” with students in Kirk-themed costumes cheering and booing his memory.
When photos surfaced online, an X account called “Department of Deportations” posted a photo of a group of attendees along with screenshots of their social media profiles, claimed they were in the country on student visas, and promised to get them deported. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau replied, “Thanks. On it!”
Asked about it by The College Fix, a State Department spokesman said the administration won’t tolerate visa holders who break the law, support terrorism, or unlawfully incite violence. But it’s not clear whether any of the participants were actually foreign students on visas:
A popular account on X called “Department of Deportations” found a photo of some of the students that attended the event along with their social media handles. Five of the six students in the photo appeared to be students of color.
The post stated: “And for our last trick of the day, we’re going to get a couple of people deported.”
“Meet this group of Berkeley students who are here on student visas and will soon be heading back!” the post reads. “The guy in the center is Nicholas Vail. The rest can be found easily.”
Screenshots posted by the “Department of Deportations” account included social media profile screenshots, including of Vail, who has an Italian flag as part of his bio, and another student who had foreign flags as part of her bio.
The New York Times reported that it “is unclear if any of the people who participated in the event, including those who opposed Mr. Kirk’s politics, were foreign students on visas.”
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The Trump administration has used the visa process as a way to crack down on foreign students in the country who engage in anti-American protests, revoking visas or threatening deportation under Immigration and Nationality Act provisions.
Around X
Speaking of the government and the press, CNN’s Brian Stelter reports that the White House barred Politico from Air Force One on Monday, keeping it from taking its turn in the press pool. According to CNN’s sources, many of the outlets offered the open seat declined it. Politico is one of the three outlets the president tried to banish from the White House last month, a ban a federal judge has temporarily blocked.
An Athletic columnist argues that Sophie Cunningham "has to go" from the Indiana Fever, calling her takes too "turbulent" to pair with Caitlin Clark. Enes Kanter Freedom highlights the hypocrisy by noting that athletes like Colin Kaepernick and LeBron James are celebrated for speaking out on politics.
Finally, a consistency test for free-speech advocates. House Republicans led by Georgia's Rich McCormick have introduced the Communist Control Act of 2026, which would extend a 1954 anti-communist law to the Democratic Socialists of America. Rep. Clay Fuller, a co-sponsor, notes the original law denied the Communist Party the rights of a normal political party. DSA's ideas deserve to be defeated, loudly and often.
