FIREwire — August 29, 2025
Trump targets flag burning, 4chan sues Ofcom, and Shiloh Hendrix faces charges
“The First Amendment guarantees the right to free expression, including political speech, even when it is controversial or offensive to some.”
– Killingly, Connecticut Town Manager Brian Palaia, on why they can’t force a resident to remove a vulgar Epstein-themed yard sign near schools, Aug. 26, 2025
Trump issues order targeting American flag burning
President Trump issued an executive order cracking down on flag burning, and remarked during the signing, “If you burn a flag, you get one year in jail.”
“Flag burning as a form of political protest is protected by the First Amendment,” said FIRE Chief Counsel Bob Corn-Revere. “You don’t have to like flag burning. You can condemn it, debate it, or hoist your own flag even higher. The beauty of free speech is that you get to express your opinions, even if others don’t like what you have to say.”
4chan and Kiwi Farms sue UK regulator Ofcom over speech rights
The platforms are suing in U.S. courts, arguing that the UK Online Safety Act violates their First Amendment protections — even though they operate outside the UK.
“Those who care about their expressive rights here in the United States must pay close attention to how foreign nations regulate online expression,” said FIRE Lead Counsel for Tech Policy Ari Cohn. “Laws like the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act must not silence protected speech within the United States, and American legislators must not use illiberal laws from overseas as a model for censorship in the United States.”
Also in the news
Minnesota woman Shiloh Hendrix, accused of hurling racial slurs at an autistic black child, now faces three misdemeanor charges.
FEMA employees were put on leave after criticizing the Trump administration in an open letter.
The social media platform Bluesky is blocking users from Mississippi rather than comply with the state's age verification law.
This week’s datapoint
Conservatives who talk politics with friends are more tolerant of controversial speakers on both sides, while liberals who do so are more tolerant only of their own side, and less tolerant of the other.
Congratulations for removing the misleading August 25th Substack post “Your burning questions on flag burning”.
That was the post where you prepended an Editor’s note to a year old piece saying it’s about this week’s executive order, while failing to mention that the 2025 executive order was quite clearly written *not* to be unconstitutional.
But your work on quality control is still not complete.
The piece you continue to link to in this post…
https://www.thefire.org/news/fire-statement-president-trumps-executive-order-outlaw-flag-burning
…still falsely claims “On Aug. 25, President Donald Trump issued an executive order cracking down on flag burning, which is protected expressive activity under the First Amendment” while failing to mention that said executive order was quite clearly written *not* to be unconstitutional.
Now there is nothing wrong with - and much admirable - about the OG July 2024 piece linked from *that* piece, since it makes no such false or misleading claims about the executive order.
https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/your-burning-questions-flag-burning
I appreciate the progress in being less untruthful, FIRE. Now please finish the job.