Corey Friedman, Columnist

If courts uphold the National Labor Relations Board's broad interpretation of "protected concerted activity," social and political messages that have nothing to do with working conditions could begin flooding America's offices, factories, shops and restaurants — for better or worse.

Labor Board: Take Your Politics to Work, by Corey Friedman The National Labor Relations Board wants to open the door to workplace activism, but winning its case against Whole Foods would tear that metaphorical door off its proverbial hinges. Regulators accuse the upscale supermarket chain of violating federal labor law when it forbade employees from wearing...

Conservatives: Let's regulate content moderation!
Progressives: Let's regulate addictive algorithms!
The First Amendment: Both of you need to get reacquainted with me. I protect private websites from government interference.

Congress can’t regulate social media | The Wilson Times Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is on a rampage after Twitter deactivated her account and Facebook place...

There's "paying your debt to society," and then there's "price gouging inmates' family and friends for fun and profit." When people talk about the prison-industrial complex, this is precisely what they mean.

The Storm Lake Times editor and co-owner Art Cullen is battling the spread of news deserts, the ominous name given to communities without local newspapers to expose corruption at City Hall and cover high school football rivalries under the Friday night lights. New documentary Storm Lake poses an existential question: What happens if we lose the news?

Democracy Dies in News Deserts, by Corey Friedman Claiming territory like a conquering army, a vast desert is on the march. It swallows small towns, suburbs and the wide expanses of farmland in between.

Homeopathy is flimflam, and Aaron Rodgers is just its latest victim. You can make Rodgers the unwitting poster boy for medical misinformation, or you can look past the QB and point the finger of blame at the M.D.s who led him astray.

Junk Science Sacks Star Quarterback, by Corey Friedman Aaron Rodgers misled the public about his vaccination status, but the Green Bay Packers quarterback sidelined with a bout of COVID-19 is more victim than perpetrator. When reporters asked the 2021 league MVP during an August press conference if he was vaccinated, Rodgers answered in the affirmative,...

Without a critical mass of liberal users to counterbalance vocal Trump fans, Truth Social will be an echo chamber.

Trump Needs Liberal Sparring Partners, by Corey Friedman If you can't join 'em, beat 'em. That inverted cliche is Donald Trump's answer to Twitter and Facebook, which suspended his accounts following the Jan.

Formulas for COVID-19 vaccines developed through Operation Warp Speed should be in the public domain. Taxpayers picked up the tab for R&D. Even the staunchest intellectual property hawk can't justify socializing the risk and privatizing the profit.

Cancel Drug Patents When the Public Pays, by Corey Friedman Pope Francis is urging drugmakers to release their lucrative patents on coronavirus vaccines, allowing the lifesaving medicine to be distributed worldwide. Big Pharma may still relent, but the fact that it can fold its collective arms as COVID-19 sweeps the globe is nothing short of a scandal.

Who makes a more credible ally: the self-important scolds who presume to speak for you, or the true friend who would rather risk discomfort than dishonesty?

Chappelle's Challenge: Conversation, Not Cancellation, by Corey Friedman Who makes a more credible ally: the self-important scolds who presume to speak for you, or the true friend who would rather risk discomfort than dishonesty? The critics do***ng Dave Chappelle over supposedly bigoted and transphobic jokes fall into the former camp. As cultural tastemakers, they reser...

Trigger warnings are ineffective and potentially harmful. The research is robust, and any serious scholar who says it's inconclusive is either uninformed or lying through chattering teeth.

Trigger Warning: This Won't Be Helpful, by Corey Friedman As they write next semester's syllabus, some professors will make a cynical calculation: It's better to risk regression while seeming compassionate than to support recovery and endure complaints. No matter the course material — history, political science, biology, law — they'll lard up the lesso...

Government agencies' role in registering a unique combination of letters and numbers for a personalized license plate isn't much different from reviewing a trademark application. If courts apply Matal v. Tam, few — if any — vanity plate restrictions will survive.

Vanity Plates: A Free Speech Frontier, by Corey Friedman The license plate prudes may win a few battles; but when the exhaust smoke clears, they will lose the war. A Tennessee woman is suing state officials for recalling a vanity plate she has displayed for a full decade without incident.

The boycott battle swirling around the United States' No. 1 ice cream brand isn't really about corporate responsibility, consumer ethics or even foreign policy. It's little more than an excuse for virtue signaling on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Airier than over-whipped ice cream, the debate elevates symbolism over substance.

Virtue Signaling Causes Ice Cream Headache, by Corey Friedman Filling your freezer with Ben & Jerry's won't improve prospects for Palestinian statehood, and denying yourself that pint of Cherry Garcia or Chunky Monkey does nothing to defend Israel's right to exist. The boycott battle swirling around the United States' No.

Britney Spears says her minders are exploiting her for financial gain. Sometimes, the only way to get rid of a parasite is to starve the host.

Boycott Britney Spears to save her | The Wilson Times Lawyers can’t seem to free Britney Spears from the conservatorship that’s kept her under her estrang...