That may be true for you . . . 
Hey, whatever floats your boat . . . 
My reality isn’t necessarily yours . . .

BERKELEY, Calif.—If what happened on Sep. 14 at the University of California, Berkeley—birthplace of the 1960s "free speech movement"—is really what it takes to protect free speech today in the United States, America may be in trouble. 

Should a Massachusetts church be eligible for public preservation grants to help restore its historic stained glass windows?

The City of Acton thinks so and awarded Acton Congregational Church $100,000 under its Community Preservation Act. But a group of taxpayers sued, claiming the grant violates the Massachusetts Constitution’s ban on using public money to benefit religious institutions. The state’s Supreme Judicial Court heard arguments in the case last week and will issue a ruling in the next few months. 

A Florida sociology professor who lost his job last week over a hateful tweet about Harvey victims has a fledgling free-speech organization questioning the “chilling effect” harsh penalties can have on professors and students, on and off campus. 

Defending people’s right to speak without defending what they say is a growing problem, said Matthew Foldi, president and founder of Students for Free Expression, adding that living within the tension of that paradigm is essential to ensure free expression for all, even the most odious.

BERKELEY, CALIF.—In mid-August, press accounts from Charlottesville, Va., rightly emphasized the death of one innocent person and the violence of white supremacists. The prime story from Berkeley’s riot two weeks later was the opposite: Happily, no fatalities, but the left-wing “antifa” army showcased its violence, and once again most of the police stood aside at a crucial time. 

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) appears to have backed off its defense of hate groups and their rhetoric, saying it is not obliged to represent organizations whose members demonstrate while carrying firearms. The policy shift puts the national organization in line with California chapters that objected to the ACLU’s ongoing representation of white supremacist groups in the wake of the deadly Aug. 12 protest in Charlottesville, Va.

A free-speech rally in Boston was cut short Saturday when thousands of counterprotesters descended upon a bandstand on Boston Common where a series of speeches by conservatives promoting First Amendment protections was scheduled to take place. The Boston Free Speech Coalition, the group that organized the event, said it has nothing to do with white supremacists or racism and has no affiliation with organizers of last weeks’ violent rally in Charlottesville, Va., that left one person dead. “We are strictly about free speech,” the group said on its Facebook page.