A comedian lands at Heathrow and finds himself met by officers as though he posed a terrorist threat. His offense? A social media joke about trans people. He’s released on bail on the condition he doesn’t post on X.
Another man prays silently outside the “safe zone” of an abortion clinic and is hauled off, given a two-year conditional discharge, and fined £9,000 (just over $12,000).
We hope Britain pulls up from its nosedive, but let’s not delude ourselves. America faces the same temptations.
A third man waves the Union Jack at a pro-Palestinian march in England — only to be arrested. Reuters quickly ran interference: not for the flag, they said, but for a “racially aggravated public order offence” and “homophobic abuse.” As if that makes it better.
And we’re still not mentioning the Islamic child-rape scandal that grows worse with every new revelation. The United States watches Britain collapse into a kind of Reformation-era persecution, this time in the name of Islam, paganism, and sexual license. Americans shake their heads, maybe reassure themselves: We fought a revolution to escape this. Charles II jailed Christians. Charles III praises Islam. And we have the First Amendment. Case closed.
Not so fast. We may be on the same road. Once you begin policing speech to protect feelings, the end point looks very much like the UK. And we have plenty of warning signs.
Universities may be the clearest early indicator. Professors tell us every profession must “look like” society — except their own. If a field is 97% male, they call it systemic bias. But in the academy itself, where atheists and leftists dominate, they see no problem.
The numbers don’t lie. At Arizona State University, a December 2024 survey found just 19 Republicans among 544 faculty members. At the University of Arizona, only eight Republicans out of 369. Entire departments lacked a single Republican. A 2023 Harvard Crimson study found only 2.5% of Harvard faculty identify as conservative. If any other profession looked this skewed, professors would scream about bias. In their case, they call it “normal.”
And the consequences? They’ll defend freedom of speech for burning an American flag. Burn a trans flag, and suddenly you’ve committed a hate crime. That is one step removed from Graham Linehan’s arrest in the UK for an X post.
Students already know what this means. A 2022 FIRE survey found they self-censor in class. They parrot leftist slogans on gender and race, not because they believe them, but because they want the grade. We are teaching them to lie to advance. No one is being asked to confess Christ; they are being asked to confess Ibram Kendi and John Money.
I’ve seen it firsthand. At ASU’s Honors College, faculty blocked Charlie Kirk, Dennis Prager, and Robert Kiyosaki from speaking, smearing them as “white supremacists.” That label alone was enough to push the event off campus. These professors weren’t interested in argument. They wanted silence.
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How do they justify it? With “hate crimes.” Not crimes that incite violence, but crimes of opinion. Disagree with LGBTQ ideology? That’s hate. Straight to jail. Professors sleep well at night because we’ve accepted their framework: society divided into oppressors and oppressed. Bad outcomes aren’t the result of choices, but of systemic injustice. Victims must be coddled, even at the expense of truth.
Once you accept that, feelings erase the First Amendment.
We need a spine. Sexual sins are real and destructive. Abortion ends a life. A comedian may say this through jokes; a philosopher may say it through essays. Either way, it’s the truth. The mob can gnash its teeth, plug its ears, strip away free speech, and jail comedians, but reality doesn’t change.
We hope Britain pulls up from its nosedive, but let’s not delude ourselves. America faces the same temptations. We must pray for the end of abortion, speak plainly about the damage sexual ideology inflicts on children, and reject the false frame of “oppressors and oppressed.” The real categories are truth and lies. Choose wisely, while you still can.
President Donald Trump on Monday signed several executive orders to restore the rule of law across the nation, including action to protect America’s “most sacred and cherished symbol.”
Trump signed “Prosecuting Burning of the American Flag” to prevent the desecration of the Stars and Stripes.
'The president is right to be concerned about the desecration of one of the proudest symbols of our nation.'
“Would you listen to this? This is very important,” Trump stated during Monday’s signing in the Oval Office.
“All over the country they’re burning flags.”
“Through a very sad court, I guess it was a five-to-four decision, they called it freedom of speech,” the president stated, referring to the Texas v. Johnson Supreme Court case in 1989.
“When you burn the American flag, it incites riots at levels that we’ve never seen before. People go crazy,” he continued.
“If you burn a flag, you get one year in jail. No early exit. No nothing.”
The White House contended that burning the flag is “a statement of contempt, hostility, and violence against our Nation” that “may incite violence and riot.”
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“American Flag burning is also used by groups of foreign nationals as a calculated act to intimidate and threaten violence against Americans because of their nationality and place of birth,” the administration added.
According to the EO, those who desecrate the American flag could face charges related to burning restrictions, disorderly conduct, or destruction of property.
Anti-immigration-enforcement protesters have held several demonstrations this year where they have burned American flags.
Trump’s latest executive action has sparked bipartisan debate about whether flag-burning should be protected under the First Amendment.
“The president is right to be concerned about the desecration of one of the proudest symbols of our nation. This executive order will eventually allow the Justice Department to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit — and potentially overturn — a prior precedent saying that burning the American flag is constitutionally protected 'speech' under the First Amendment,” Zack Smith, a senior legal fellow and manager with the Heritage Foundation, told Blaze News.
Journalist Christopher Rufo highlighted how some individuals have been prosecuted for burning or damaging Pride flags.
“I'm sorry, but as long as this is the status quo, I'm not going to work myself into a state of hysteria about Trump's executive order on burning the American flag,” Rufo wrote in a post on social media.
He noted that he is “sympathetic to the argument that burning the American flag is protected speech.”
Trump also signed on Monday two executive orders that aim to eliminate cashless bail systems across the United States.
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