America is the wealthiest country in the world—it has both the largest economy and greatest GDP. Yet, though we spend almost twice as much per person as other high-income nations, by many metrics we rank near or at the bottom of the list when it comes to healthcare. In fact, globally, the United States falls at a dismal 48th in life expectancy at birth! Unfortunately, it is about to get worse.
Censorship is on the rise, obscenity is being redefined, and if we do not speak up—if we do not fight—we will lose our rights to free speech! Increasingly, books are being banned from our school libraries, and in many classrooms instructors can no longer teach the facts of American history without fear of reprisal. But there is an even more insidious censorship taking hold in our country right now, and that is self-censorship.
"Some people consider me the hypocrisy police,” Larry Flynt was fond of saying. Exposing hypocrisy was at the heart of HUSTLER cartoons and a clear motive behind Flynt’s revelations of the money-grubbing Moral Majority, infidelities of incoming House Speaker Bob Livingston, and accusations against Republicans Bob Barr, David Vitter…and the list goes on, such that getting “Flynted” entered the political lexicon.
The fact is, huge swaths of this country have become news deserts. We have lost more than a third of our newspapers and two-thirds of our journalists in the past two decades. And increasingly, the papers that remain are being bought up by billionaires, corporations and private equity firms more interested in cutting costs than serving communities.
The courts have ruled repeatedly that pornography and obscenity are not synonymous. Yet a new bill introduced by Senator Mike Lee of Utah and Illinois Representative Mary Miller proposes to rewrite the definition of obscenity to make it so incredibly vague and subjective that it will allow the government to dictate what you can or cannot view in the privacy of your own home and criminalize material it deems offensive.
America is on fire. Democracy is smoldering before our very eyes, and it’s not the “woke mob” or leftist agenda holding the match. No, it’s the reckless, power-hungry billionaires and political cronies who have hijacked our government and sacrificed our freedoms. I’m calling out the ringleaders—Donald Trump, Elon Musk and JD Vance—along with every so-called leader in Washington, DC, too spineless to do anything about it.
Since its first issue in 1974, HUSTLER Magazine has opened with The Publisher’s Statement—a no-holds-barred commentary on politics and culture from Larry Flynt himself. Today, Liz Flynt continues that tradition, weighing in each month with sharp, timely reflections on the issues shaping our world. Now, for the first time, her monthly columns—and other behind-the-scenes stories from inside the company—are available in one place: The HUSTLER Files.
This month, Liz issues a stark warning about the growing threat to free speech in America, pointing to rising censorship in education, media, and public institutions under Donald Trump’s influence.
HUSTLER®50: 50 Years of Freedom hits bookshelves, marking the first comprehensive retrospective of HUSTLER Magazine’s five-decade legacy. Published by Radius Book Group, this 208-page, full-color hardcover—authored by Liz Flynt with a foreword by actor Woody Harrelson—offers an in-depth look at the magazine’s impact on free speech, satire, sexuality, and American culture.
Hustler Magazine’s infamous cartoons played a significant role in shaping the magazine’s identity and eliciting strong reactions during the 1970s. Among its many controversial features, the magazine’s cartoons, created by a cadre of talented and often provocative artists, played a significant role in shaping its identity.
In the cultural whirlwind of the 1970s, one publication boldly emerged, challenging societal norms and pushing the boundaries of free speech. This was the birth of Hustler Magazine in 1974, a venture spearheaded by the audacious entrepreneur Larry Flynt.
