This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

Yesterday was something of a two-fer for my organization, the Center for Security Policy, and for two liberties we cherish: freedom of speech and freedom of association.

First, a Texas judge dismissed a lawsuit claiming that my colleague, Jim Hanson, had defamed Ahmed Mohammed, better known as the “Clock Boy.” Jim had exercised his right to speak freely by noting, among other things, that the so-called “invention” young Mohammed brought to his school in Irving, Texas back in 2015 looked a lot like a bomb.

Then, in a Senate hearing, Sen. Richard Blumenthal called our Center a “hate group,” criticizing Attorney General-designate Jeff Sessions for receiving an award from us. Sen. Sessions observed that the former vice presidential candidate of his party, Sen. Joe Lieberman, had accepted the same award.

The Center is proud to defend freedom – and counter those who don’t.

This is Frank Gaffney.