Free Republic

Six anti-free speech Democrats have done the unthinkable in the State of North Carolina. They have voted to prevent HB 527 from passing through the higher education committee and onto the house floor for a full vote. Dubbed as a bill to “Restore and Preserve Campus Free Speech,” it is difficult to understand how anyone could be opposed, regardless of his political persuasion. (For more details on HB 527, click here). The need for HB 527 is clear given that only one UNC campus, UNC-Chapel Hill, has been rated by the non-partisan Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) as...

Understand that if America is stupid enough to let liberals take power again, they will persecute and prosecute normal Americans like us who dare to dissent. That’s not a guess or a prediction – that’s a commitment they have made to their fascist followers. They’ve seen what the truth can do to their schemes. After 2016, there’s no way they are going to take a chance on another electoral rejection by us normals, so they don’t even pretend to support free speech anymore. It will be one gender neutral being-one vote, one more time, and then never again.Hold on. That’s...

The former Federal Election Commission chairwoman Ann M. Ravel says that political speech must be controlled on social media. She presented her remarks in a speech at UC Berkeley, calling for regulations against “fake news.” Speaking at an event called “Future of Democracy,” Ravel argued the proliferation of “fake news” and political advertising on platforms like Facebook influenced elections. She warned that the lack of disclosure by the creators of these campaigns was becoming a huge problem. “We know that there’s a lot of campaigning that’s moved to the internet, whether it’s through fake news or just outright advertising and...

Full title: Judicial Watch Victory: Court Finds Federal Photography Charges against 75-Year Old Los Angeles Veteran Robert Rosebrock Violate First Amendment ... (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today announced that a California U.S. District Court has ruled that 75-year-old veteran Robert Rosebrock cannot be prosecuted for taking photographs at the “Great Lawn Gate” entrance to the Los Angeles National Veterans Park. The court also ruled, however, that Rosebrock must stand trial on Tuesday, April 18, for purportedly displaying two four-by-six inch American Flags above a Veterans Affairs (VA) fence on Memorial Day, May 30, 2016. The rulings were handed down...

Many of you have asked for the status of my computer intrusion lawsuit against the federal government. On March 19, 2017, a federal judge denied the government’s motion to dismiss my computer intrusion lawsuit, and transferred the case from Washington D.C. to the Eastern District of Virginia. Below are excerpts from the judge’s opinion, which provides a good summary.

Members of the North Carolina General Assembly introduced a bill on Tuesday, citing the 10th Amendment, which affirms that the U.S. Supreme Court exceeded its authority under the Constitution and in relation to the “decree of Almighty God” by legalizing same-sex marriage, and contends that the Obergefell v. Hodges decision “is null and void” in North Carolina and that the Tar Heel state shall only recognize marriages between one man and one woman. The legislation explains that North Carolina seeks to follow the 2012 law that was established in Section 6 of Article XIV of the North Carolina Constitution, which...

Is there any way to minimize Russia’s ability to spread fake news on social media and legitimate news outlets? Sen Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) asked a counter-terrorism expert on Thursday. The witness, Clinton Watts, proposed a rating system for news reports, to be developed by an independent agency. The ratings would act like nutrition labels on food, he said, so “you know what you’re consuming.” The Russians aren’t the only ones pushing fake news, Watts told the Senate Intelligence committee. Watts, a senior fellow at the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security at George Washington University, said profiteers, political groups and...

For the past two weeks, Reason, a magazine dedicated to "Free Minds and Free Markets," has been barred by an order from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from speaking publicly about a grand jury subpoena that court sent to Reason.com. The subpoena demanded the records of six people who left hyperbolic comments at the website about the federal judge who oversaw the controversial conviction of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht. Shortly after the subpoena was issued, the government issued a gag order prohibiting Reason not only from discussing the matter but even acknowledging the...

A federal judge has advised two Democratic attorneys general leading the charge against ExxonMobil to appear for pretrial testimony on their climate-change investigations. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey are scheduled to undergo depositions by Exxon attorneys on Dec. 13 in Dallas, according to the Thursday order by U.S. District Court Judge Ed Kinkeade. Exxon is challenging the prosecutors’ subpoenas demanding thousands of documents and communications related to probes into whether the company committed fraud by misleading the public about its research on global warming. Exxon has argued that the investigations are politically motivated...

An Italian archbishop close to Pope Benedict XVI has claimed that the It is “no coincidence” that some Catholic groups “have asked President Trump to open a commission of inquiry to investigate whether the administration of Barack Obama exerted pressure on Benedict,” said Archbishop Luigi Negri in an interview Monday, citing other revelations by Wikileaks regarding efforts by the Democratic Party to sway the direction of the Catholic Church in the United States. “It remains shrouded in mystery for now,” he said to news outlet Rimini 2.0, “but I am sure that those responsible will be found out.” The archbishop...

Those of us who believe that the Constitution means what it says have been arguing since the late 1970s that congressional efforts to strengthen national security by weakening personal liberty are unconstitutional, un-American and ineffective. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which Congress passed in the aftermath of President Richard Nixon's use of the CIA and the FBI to spy on his political opponents, has unleashed demons that now seem beyond the government's control and are more pervasive than anything Nixon could have dreamed of. This realization came to a boiling point last weekend when President Donald Trump accused former President...

Young America’s Foundation has won a significant victory against leftist administrators who seek to stifle the First Amendment Rights of conservatives on campuses in its recently concluded action against the defendants at California State University-Los Angeles. The administrators responsible for imposing unconstitutional speaker fees and inciting near-riots against the CSULA Young Americans for Freedom chapter and Ben Shapiro have agreed to suspend their anti-free speech practices and activities in respect to the Young Americans for Freedom students and their campus events. Per the agreement, the University “will not impose any fees, including security fees, based upon the viewpoint of the...

Obama's "echo chamber" lives on and the media are still buying... In an article on the Atlantic website, a former Obama White House staffer explains why she resigned from the Trump White House after only eight days. . . . Hers was the second story in less than a week in which a government official explained that they’d resigned because of Trump’s policies. Ned Price, a CIA analyst who worked at the Obama White House, authored a cri de coeur for the Washington Post to explain why his disagreements with Trump’s policies prompted him to leave government service. “To be...

Scuffles between Trump haters and Trump supporters broke out in Hollywood, Calf., Saturday during a "Boycott the Oscars" protest. Two very aggressive women clashed with a Trump supporter who was holding a sign outside the Dolby Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, where dozens of Trump supporters were calling for a boycott of the Academy Awards. Via the Daily Mail: Footage of the ordeal showed one girl breaking a sign in half that belonged to a woman wearing a 'Make America Great Again' hat. Fists then flew between the woman in the hat and two Trump-hating opponents. The girl who broke the...

West Virginia UniversityÂ’s student government has approved funding for a leftist student group whose leader was recorded physically attacking members of a conservative group three weeks ago.The Left Alliance had also told the Turning Point USA chapter to leave its Jan. 25 meeting, a possible violation of the code for registered student organizations.Though the universityÂ’s Office of Student Conduct investigated Kelley DenhamÂ’s recorded aggression toward the conservative students and interviewed the parties, nothing public has come of it, leaving the Left AllianceÂ’s campus status intact.The group proceeded to apply for a $1,000 grant from the Student Government Association, which would...

Students at the prestigious University of Chicago say that free speech should not apply equally to everyone. The students objected to the school’s Institute of Politics’ invitation to former Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. They claim that allowing him to speak “normalizes bigotry” and provides a platform for fascism. Lewandowski did not join the White House staff but by many accounts remains an influential advisor to the president. The coalition of students from U of C Resists, Graduate Students United, Students Working Against Prisons, and UChicago Socialists claim that the school’s “commitment to free expression” doesn’t require the institution...

The journalists at ABC on Wednesday erupted in “open hostility” to Donald Trump, accusing the President of “shutting down part of the First Amendment” by not calling on network reporters at a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Jon Karl, Cecilia Vega and Matt Dowd repeatedly whined about the “conservative” questioners who were chosen, lamenting that the preferred narrative of the liberal media wasn’t highlighted. In the post-press conference coverage, Vega ranted, “I want to tell you about the open hostility right here in this room. You know, I'm sitting right here kind of in the middle of...

When President Donald Trump spoke to the National Prayer Breakfast this month, he underscored his vow to defend the religious rights of the conservative Christians who helped propel him to power. Now, they expect the Justice Department under new Attorney General Jeff Sessions will reposition itself as a champion of what they see as that religious freedom. It would be a welcome change for conservative Christians who say their concerns were marginalized under the Obama administration in favor of First Amendment and LGBT issues. …

From the Email: We have to act now! Liberals and homosexual activists are advancing their radical agenda by attempting to torpedo President Donald Trump's executive order on religious liberty that was recently leaked to the media. This is an excellent executive order that will protect your First Amendment rights. I urge you to sign the AFA petition NOW asking President Trump to protect religious freedom for all Americans. I plan to personally deliver this petition with signatures during a meeting with the Trump Administration. Help me take your voice to the White House! This is urgent! After the executive order...

Much as administrators and faculty may dislike it, the fact is that public colleges are subject to both the First Amendment and the state legislatures that fund them. Legislators shouldn’t micromanage the campuses, but they must set some basic rules. One of those rules should be that free speech and open inquiry will be protected. You might find it surprising that academics need to be told to protect free speech and inquiry, but American campuses have become increasingly intolerant of speech that conflicts with “progressive” orthodoxy. I have often written about the rules imposed by campus officials that run afoul...