Free Republic

@EndWokeness Greatest country in the history of the world and it’s not even close. She ain’t perfect, but she’s the best we’ve got. @elonmusk Yeah

@BrendanCarrFCC On Brazilian Justice de Moreas's order shutting down X: The text of his 51-page decision is far more concerning and sweeping than the headlines suggest. de Moreas’s own words make clear that he is attempting to strike a broader blow against free speech and in favor of authoritarian controls. His opinion does not even try to hide it. He comes right out and points to Brexit and the 2016 election of President Trump as examples, in his telling, of the types of extreme “populist” outcomes that he is attempting to avoid by imposing a new censorship regime in Brazil...

The Musk-Trump interview was a conversation between two businessmen who understand government regulations better than most politicians or media lapdogs do. It was huge, or whatever other adjective explains a two-hour conversation over the internet. The Harris-Walz team, or the ones who have not sat down with anyone, are furious that Donald Trump had a conversation with Elon Musk. It came about 24 hours after Mr. Vance made the Sunday show rounds. One team is talking and the other isn’t. Hello media! Let’s check out one reaction in particular: Axios’ @sarafischer: ‘@elonmusk will let Donald Trump speak all of the...

A Washington Post ‘reporter’ on Monday asked Karine Jean-Pierre what Biden is going to do to stop Trump’s live X interview with Elon Musk on Monday night. President Trump is back on X after taking some time away from the social media platform. Trump tweeted a campaign ad ahead of his highly anticipated live interview with Elon Musk on Monday evening at 8 pm ET. Washington Post reporter Cleve Wootson wants the government to intervene to shut Trump down with just a few months to go until Election Day. “One more, Elon Musk is slated to interview Trump tonight on...

On Wednesday, Pres. Obama declared today “Religious Freedom Day”—even as his administration continues its court fights against those seeking religious liberty. While fighting 91 different lawsuits against his HHS mandate requiring employers to provide coverage for abortifacients and contraceptives, Obama even vowed to “remain committed to promoting religious freedom” in his proclamation. …

Educators in Oklahoma are refusing a state order to incorporate the Bible into their lesson plans, setting up an inevitable showdown with the start of the school year just weeks away.Ryan Walters, the state superintendent of public instruction, last week released guidelines to schools for how they should be integrating the Bible into classrooms, saying educators who are against the initiative “will comply, and I will use every means to make sure of it.”The message from some schools in the state: Bring it on.“I suspect that the first thing that will happen is he will target a specific school district...

As journalists, it’s our job to choose our words wisely and not perpetuate stereotypes. n the 13 years that I’ve lived in the US, I’ve heard the words “No can do” on so many occasions — from teachers, comics, news anchors, Hall & Oates — that I’ve always thought it was simply a cheeky way to say “alas.” But the phrase, I learned several days ago, emerged in the late 19th century, around the time the US passed the Chinese Exclusion Act banning immigration from China, the country of my birth. Some white Americans popularized the saying to mock the...

On XApr 17, 2024 TRANSCRIPT:Katherine Maher: The number one challenge here that we see is, of course, the First Amendment in the United States... is a fairly robust protection of rights, and that is a protection of rights, both for platforms, which I actually think is very important. The platforms have those rights to regulate what kind of content they want on their sites, but it also means it is a little bit tricky to really address some of the real challenges of 'where does bad information come from?' and some of the influence peddlers who have made a real...

Federal prosecutors are pursuing a deal to allow WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to avoid espionage charges and instead plead guilty to the misdemeanor of mishandling classified data. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the talks between U.S. authorities and Assange's lawyers on Wednesday. The independent outlet Consortium News then confirmed that it had learned the same details "off the record" several months ago. Assange has been detained in Britain for five years awaiting extradition, and the Journal reported that he "would likely be free to leave prison shortly after any deal was concluded" due to time served. Although it's...

WASHINGTON, March 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court, addressing free speech rights in the digital age, decided on Friday that government officials can sometimes be sued under the Constitution's First Amendment for blocking critics on social media. In unanimous decisions in two cases from California and Michigan, the justices set a new standard for determining if public officials acted in a governmental capacity when blocking critics on social media - a test to be applied in lawsuits accusing them of violating the First Amendment. First Amendment protections for free speech generally constrain government actors, not private individuals. Under the...

Priscilla Villarreal, also known as "Lagordiloca," has sparked a debate about free speech and who, exactly, is a journalist.A journalist asked the police a few questions and was arrested by that same agency for publishing the answers. That this happened not in China or Russia but in the U.S. may raise some eyebrows. Yet that's the conduct a federal court greenlit last week when it ruled that law enforcement in Laredo, Texas, did not obviously violate the Constitution when officers allegedly misled a magistrate judge and arrested Priscilla Villarreal for doing basic reporting, adding another twist to a case that...

CNN — New York City has banned the term “illegal alien” when used “with intent to demean, humiliate or harass a person,” the city said. The city’s new guidelines, announced last week, also ban discrimination against someone based on their English proficiency and threats to call immigration authorities on someone “based on a discriminatory motive.” These violations can result in fines up to $250,000. The guidance is for all public accommodations, employment and housing, the city’s Commission on Human Rights said.

Special Counsel Jack Smith hunted information on X users who liked or retweeted posts published by former President Donald Trump, according to redacted search warrants and other documents released Monday.According to the heavily redacted document issued to then-Twitter in January, the court ordered the social media giant to forfeit a bevy of information regarding Trump’s account, including “advertising information, including advertising IDs, ad activity, and ad topic preferences,” as well as IP addresses “used to create, login, and use the account” and privacy and account settings. The warrant also demanded information such as Trump’s search history, direct messages, and “content...

The White House on Monday pushed back on hardline Republican demands to deport foreigners who joined pro-Palestinian protests, warning the proposals would not pass First Amendment protections on free speech. Republican 2024 hopefuls are competing to see who can be toughest on demonstrators backing the Palestinian cause after Hamas terrorists killed 1400 people on October 7. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for example, said pro-Hamas demonstrators should have their visas canceled. John Kirby, White House national security spokesman, was asked about sending home people who support the Palestinian cause. 'I would just tell you, you don't have to agree with every...

A Texas judge ruled that Infowars host Alex Jones cannot use bankruptcy protection to avoid paying Sandy Hook massacre victims' families more than $1.1 billion for his conspiracy theories that the 2012 shooting was a hoax. U.S. District Judge Christopher Lopez of Houston issued the ruling Thursday. "The families are pleased with the Court’s ruling that Jones’s malicious conduct will find no safe harbor in the bankruptcy court," said lawyer Christopher Mattei, who represents the families. "As a result, Jones will continue to be accountable for his actions into the future regardless of his claimed bankruptcy."

In a bombshell ruling, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has shut down the “nerve center” of federal government-led speech policing, correcting a critical error in its prior jurisprudence and striking a major blow for the First Amendment and against deep-state election interference. The court’s opinion comes in the landmark free speech case in the digital era, Missouri v. Biden. Before the litigation landed in appellate court, Louisiana District Judge Terry A. Doughty declared in a fitting Independence Day ruling that federal authorities from the Biden White House to the FBI and CDC had likely engaged in “the most...

The police chief who oversaw a controversial raid on a small Kansas newspaper has been suspended. The raid, carried out on the Marion County Record on August 11, was personally led by Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody . Another raid was enacted on the home of the newspaper's publisher' 98-year-old mother, Joan Meyer, who subsequently died. The police chief who led a highly criticized raid of a small Kansas newspaper, that saw its 98-year-old owner die the following day, has been suspended. ... The August 11 raids of the Marion County Record office and the homes of its publisher and...

On September 13, 2023, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held California AB2571, which broadly limits the commercial speech of people promoting the sale of firearms or firearms products or events where firearms products are used or sold, was probably unconstitutional. For example, this would include virtually all gun shows. The three-judge panel stopped enforcement of the bill. The California Government had passed the bill into law a bit more than a year earlier.On June 30, 2022, the California Governor signed AB 2571 into law, a sweeping new restriction on the commercial speech of firearms industry...

In a recent survey by the Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey, Americans were asked to name the rights the First Amendment protected. The Annenberg Foundation has drifted reliably left since its creation. From the ABA Journal: The 2023 Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey asked Americans to name the specific rights guaranteed by the First Amendment. The results: 77% said freedom of speech 40% said freedom of religion 33% said the right to assembly 28% said freedom of the press 9% said the right to petition governmentTwenty-two percent named the right to bear arms, which is actually protected by the Second...

“This changes the rules of the game,” Dershowitz said. “This basically says RICO is not just applicable to organized crime or to organized, commercial crime with hierarchies, but it also applies to protests against election results. It’s going to deter and chill people from challenging legitimate election results.”