Hello Bill, unfortunately no, there is no way to isolate or exclude certain threads from your, Unread Posts list.
I am assuming it is the Free Speech Zone you are referring to? There are 2 things you can do. Firstly, when you log in and look at, Unread Posts, look at what heading the new post is under, if it is in the, Free Speech Zone, click on the post then when the new screen comes up click on, Unread Posts since last visit again. The list will be refreshed and you avoid reading if you don't want to.
Secondly, just wait. It will have all died down in about 6 weeks. Shouldn't be an issue after that. Well, that is what happened in 2016.
All the best
Craig