Republicans need a lesson in what the First Amendment really means. There's no exception in there for Billionaire Bucks -- speech is speech, and everyone has the right to it, whether you like what they're saying or not.
Except maybe if you're a student. If you're a student and you're protesting your crummy governor's policies in Pennsylvania, you might get suspended for protesting.
ThinkProgress, earlier this week:
But when Corbett held a press conference at JP McCaskey last week touting a small chunk of funding for school resource officers, students who planned to protest Corbett’s spending priorities say they were intimidated by their school administrators into backing out.
“As soon as they found out that we were going to protest they said that we were not allowed to come and that we did not have the permission anymore,” said Brittani Carr, 17.
Carr and several fellow students had planned to hold up signs, with messages about Corbett’s push to fund other priorities like the now-invalidated voter ID law, prisons, and fracking, while making drastic cuts to education. One read, “diplomas not handcuffs.”
Another said, “Corbett cut public education funding while increasing prison funding. Don’t be fooled.”
“I didn’t like the idea that he was coming because it’s like, if I’ve been stealing money from you for four years and then all of the sudden I give you ten dollars, I didn’t want it to be seen that our district was welcoming him,” said Therese DeSlippe, a senior at McCaskey.
Carr and DeSlippe were told that if they protested, they would be uninvited from Corbett’s remarks and would face consequences for cutting class, including suspension.
That's right, kids, you can't screw up the photo opp, after all. Please refrain from telling the truth about your governor while the press is on site. After that, go at it as much as you want.
What a putz.
