Here’s a regrettable trend: as profanity has become commonplace, swear words are losing their usefulness. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the language used in movies and television has gotten dramatically more profane . There are a couple of reasons why. First is the rise of subscription-based streaming television, such as Netflix and […]

Of all the principles of democratic governance, free speech is the most important — and in our time, the most contested. Since the mid-20th century onward, the U.S. Supreme Court has steadily widened the boundaries of what is legally known as “protected speech.” In the 1960s, the Warren Court struck down most limits on obscenity […]