Postcards: That Pesky First Rule in America

Well, it's Groundhog Day again on the First Amendment. It's fitting because we didn't have anything else going on. For the people in the back... again... "Congress shall make no law..." ͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­ Forwarded this email? [Subscribe here]() for more You are a free subscriber to Postcards from the Florida Republic. To upgrade to paid and receive the daily Republic Risk Letter, [subscribe here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- [Postcards: That Pesky First Rule in America]( Well, it's Groundhog Day again on the First Amendment. It's fitting because we didn't have anything else going on. For the people in the back... again... "Congress shall make no law..." [Garrett {NAME}]( Apr 19   [READ IN APP](   Market Update: [I offered everyone a free review of the Republic Risk Letter]( this morning. So, you have plenty of insight into the reversal after yesterday’s retaliation by Israel. It’s been quiet in the first hour of trading, but it is a major options expiration day for the financial markets. The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) has pushed to near oversold territory on the Relative Strength Index and the Money Flow Index. It is time to start looking for bargains and considering a few trades on stocks you want to own for the long term. I expect that we’ll see a rebound next week, followed by some additional weakness in the Fed meeting. A proper bulltrap would take us back to the 510 level on the SPY. Given that the valuations are comparatively low, I’d start in the energy sector. --------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Fellow Expat: While attending Medill, a journalism school, I was surrounded by many people (back in 2004) who treated the First Amendment like a vampire might appreciate a cross. What’s worse: It wasn’t just a handful of students who’d had a collective meltdown over the 2000 Election and would go on to run newsrooms like the New York Times (only to have further meltdowns in their early 40s). I saw this among faculty members regularly. Fast-forward 20 years, this negative 1A sentiment - especially among mainstream journalists and politicians - has become a feature… not a bug of society. (“Nearly a third of Americans (31%), including similar numbers of Republicans and Democrats, think the First Amendment ‘goes too far,’” according to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and the [Polarization Research Lab]( at Dartmouth College.) Exhibit 456-C of this sentiment is Katherine Maher, the new CEO at National Public Radio. Maher’s history of [social media posts read like a ChatGPT parody]( of “woke messaging” gone parabolic. [Editor’s Note: I can’t stand the word ‘Woke.’] And these are just the tame ones. Attention to these social media posts accelerated after [long-time NPR editor Uri Berliner exposed]( how the public-supported radio outlet had lost its way during COVID and failed its audiences. He was suspended without pay for five days for freelancing without permission. Then, he resigned while throwing a series of linguistic hand grenades on the way out the door. His statements attracted the attention of many investigative journalists and amateur sleuths, who started digging into Maher’s resume and online persona. One of the funnier things about her Twitter rants that goes unnoticed is that no one responds to about 95% of them. It was her talking to no one… She has more than 29,400 tweets, each reading like her own struggle session for the world to witness. To be honest, I haven’t listened to NPR in 15 years, so I laughed her story off. As Urliner wrote in his resignation, Maher lacks any media experience. That’s a little odd, given that thousands of qualified publishers are looking for work. But it all became problemsome when I saw her attitude to the First Amendment. In June 2021, Maher, then the company's CEO managing the popular web encyclopedia Wikipedia, talked about her coordination with the government to fight against “disinformation.” Emphasis, mine. "The number one challenge here that we see is, of course, the First Amendment in the United States. [It] is a fairly robust protection of rights for both platforms, which I think is very important that platforms have those rights to regulate what kind of content they want on their sites.” I’d give her the benefit of the doubt if this sentence stood on its own. Because—yes—Freedom of Speech is a challenge for censors, and a logical person would want to find a way to address the issue of a writer on a crowd-sourced information platform who kept writing that the “sky is red”… when we know it’s Blue. But dig [deeper into her statements]( about personal truths, and you’ll find she is just as hostile to society’s accepted ideas and ideals as she is to basic reality. So, return to the 1A statement. I really don’t like seeing the word “challenge” in the same sentence as “First Amendment.” Because the First Amendment is not just about speech. It also restricts the government from setting laws against publishers (the press), abolishing religions, preventing public assembly, or squashing the ability to petition the government to change laws. [Only 3% of Americans can name all five rights under the First Amendment, and the average only knows ‘1.33’ in polling.] For me, speech is absolute. Not because I want my own voice heard but so that I can scream it into the vacuum of Twitter as she did. There’s a fundamental reason - a code baked into my fabric. It goes: The First Amendment safely ensures that every American can be the town crier and the village idiot. This Amendment fuels the pursuit of truth in times of darkness and the foolish liberty to parade ignorance for all to see. People say the good and the bad… but they say who they are when they aren’t afraid to speak. And when people tell you who they are… you get to believe them. It’s funny to watch this NPR executive talk openly about working with the government to tackle “misinformation” and think she is right, just, and good. News Flash: The person trying to shield free expression is not a good person. They are the tyrant. Who Are These People? Over in Europe this week, the mayor of Brussels - home of the European Union - shut down a conference that featured conservative Brexit proponents like Nigel Farage. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like him - but listening to him is essential. Again… let people tell you who they are and then make a decision. So, why did the city shut this down? Because the Brussels mayor believed the opinions expressed at the conference were dangerous. Did the mayor attend the conference? No… of course not. It was an assumption… that opinions are dangerous. [In shutting down this conference]( the mayor proved Farage’s point that EU bureaucrats were hellbent on stifling dissent against their political plans. One key difference between America and Europe is the lack of open debate in the latter. Europeans tend to suffer in silence, while Americans scream all day. The key thing to remember, though, is that in America, many liberal thoughts were once dangerous. And it took our court systems and public policy to effect change. That doesn’t happen without the First Amendment—and its five staples: freedom of assembly, speech, the right to petition, religion, and the press. It was Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., U.S. Supreme Court Justice, who once wrote: "If there is a principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other, it is the principle of free thought—not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate." What was he arguing? Freedom of speech, including that which is unpopular or dissenting, was worthy of our affection and attention, especially during times of national stress like wars. How many times must we revisit this as we barrel from war to war for decades? And how many times must we showcase the importance of dissent in improving the country? Must we quote Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Susan B. Anthony, August Spies, athlete Jason Collins, Thomas Jefferson, and others who used their freedom of speech to press for social and economic movements that were overwhelmingly unpopular in their time? We do. Because these people just don’t get it. We’re now in an environment where economic liberty, personal sovereignty, and the right just to be left alone are again considered radical ideas. They are central to the Florida Republic… and that will never change. People like Maher think they are noble and just and right... They aren’t. And when the pendulum swings back, these tyrants will demand the same rights they disrespect. Stay positive, Garrett {NAME} Disclaimer Nothing in this email should be considered personalized financial advice. While we may answer your general customer questions, we are not licensed under securities laws to guide your investment situation. Do not consider any communication between you and Florida Republic employees as financial advice. Under company rules, editors and writers cannot recommend their positions. The communication in this letter is for information and educational purposes unless otherwise strictly worded as a recommendation. Model portfolios are tracked to showcase a variety of academic, fundamental, and technical tools, and insight is provided to help readers gain knowledge and experience. Readers should not trade if they cannot handle a loss and should not trade more than they can afford to lose. There are large amounts of risk in the equity markets. 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