On Sunday, tens of thousands packed an Arizona stadium for a memorial service honoring conservative activist and commentator Charlie Kirk. From his widow, Erika, to President Donald Trump, they mourned a prominent 31-year-old who’d been assassinated for exercising his right to free speech, enshrined in the First Amendment.

Kirk was known for taking the battle of ideas to college campuses — the very kind where he was gunned down as he prepared to answer a dissenting question.

Yet, after he was shot, venomous reactions spread swiftly from some on the Left — a grim reminder of how hatred has poisoned our politics. The resulting backlash triggered a right-wing overreach ripped from Newton’s Third Law.

“There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech,” declared U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, referencing Kirk. “We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.” She event threatened to prosecute a civil rights case against an Office Depot worker who refused to print vigil posters for Kirk.

For an attorney general — and self-styled conservative free speech champion — such threats are both extraordinary and flat-out reckless.

Remember Jack Phillips, the Lakewood cakeshop owner punished for refusing to make a cake celebrating a same-sex wedding? The U.S. Supreme Court sided with him in 2018, rebuking Colorado for punishing Phillips but not artists who refused anti-gay messages.

Or web designer Lori Smith, owner of 303 Creative, who sued Colorado over a law that would force her to create same-sex wedding websites against her beliefs. The Court sided with her, too, ruling Colorado sought to “force an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience.”

Yes, refusing to print vigil posters is disgraceful. But government has no right to decide which conscience is “acceptable.” That includes the Federal Communication Commission.

Last week, Disney suspended late-night host Jimmy Kimmel “indefinitely” for spewing blatant disinformation regarding Kirk — falsely claiming “the MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”

The alleged assassin was already documented as a left-wing anti-Kirk fanatic, but rather than correct the record, Kimmel took more swipes at Republicans, particularly Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

Disney has every right to can Kimmel. But before the hammer fell, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr threatened Disney and ABC affiliates if they didn’t punish Kimmel. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” he warned.

Nexstar and Sinclair, who dominate ABC affiliates in conservative areas, quickly dropped Kimmel’s show. Disney’s suspension followed.

The FCC controls broadcast licenses and will soon rule on Nexstar’s acquisition of TV stations, including Denver’s 9News. Disney has canceled talent before — actress Gina Carano was axed from “Star Wars: The Mandalorian” for a tweet — but Carr’s threat carried teeth and muddied the waters.

While he may have given Disney cover for something they already wanted to do, Carr’s words were, as Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz put it, “dangerous as hell.”

“That’s right out of ‘Goodfellas,’” Cruz blasted. “That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going, ‘Nice bar you have here. It’d be a shame if something happened to it.’”

Let’s be clear: America’s sacrosanct freedom of speech is about the right to speak your own beliefs freely — not to say what the government approves.

Carr’s mob-like threat seemed to align Republican Cruz with Democrat Phil Weiser. “If the government can tell people what to say, what to think, who people can listen to, we lose our democratic republic,” Colorado’s attorney general admonished.

Except Weiser has advocated the very thing he’s now warning against. After Smith’s win in 303 Creative v. Elenis, he claimed the ruling “threatens to destabilize our public marketplace” — because it upheld her right to refuse speech that violated her beliefs.

Nonsense. Compelled speech is not free speech. As Justice Gorsuch wrote, “As this Court has long held, the opportunity to think for ourselves and to express those thoughts freely is among our most cherished liberties.”

Weiser is running for the Democratic nomination for governor. His hypocrisy is showing. Double for his primary rival, Sen. Michael Bennet.

“When a president and his government censor voices, all of our freedoms are at risk,” Bennet tweeted, calling Kimmel’s suspension “a dangerous attack on free speech.”

But in 2023, Bennet co-sponsored legislation to create a five-member “Digital Platform Commission” to police online algorithms, content moderation and so-called “harmful content” — much of it highly subjective.

Biden was president then. If only Bennet had heeded Cruz’s warning last week instead: “It might feel good right now to threaten Jimmy Kimmel, but when it is used to silence every conservative in America, we will regret it.” Swap a few words — and maybe Benny and the Dems will get it.

Let’s be real: The FCC is an outdated dinosaur worthy of extinction. Carr’s mafia-style intimidation proves the point. Yet Bennet hasn’t said a word about curbing the FCC’s power, preferring a new bureaucracy to police online speech.

Last week we celebrated Constitution Day, 238 years after the Framers signed a document designed to restrain government power. The First Amendment followed as the cornerstone guarantee of liberty.

Free speech isn’t conditional. It’s the bedrock principle that keeps government from deciding which voices matter. And it’s worth defending — no matter who’s in charge.

Jimmy Sengenberger is an investigative journalist, public speaker, and longtime local talk-radio host. Reach Jimmy online at Jimmysengenberger.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @SengCenter.