[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 3 (Thursday, January 8, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H112-H113]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           FREEDOM OF SPEECH

  (Mr. HIMES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, now that you have yielded me time, I can 
say anything I want. I can offer any

[[Page H113]]

idea and I can criticize anything. No police force, not the greatest 
military in the world can stop me from speaking my mind.
  This is true not because I am a particularly regular source of good 
ideas or because we are particularly gracious to one another around 
here; it is true because we are humble about what we know for sure.
  We used to know for sure in this Chamber that women should not vote 
and that racial discrimination was okay. Opposing those ideas used to 
be offensive and provocative.
  In Paris yesterday, several courageous journalists were murdered 
because their ideas were provocative to some. They were murdered by 
cowards who know that their ideas and visions would and will be 
rejected by civilized humans everywhere. There is no courage in killing 
the unarmed.
  To those who committed these atrocities yesterday: bring your ideas 
to a forum like this one or to forums like this one all over the 
democratic world, bring your ideas to be examined and debated--that is 
the path of courage and honor.

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