Free Republic

Nikki Haley made a huge unforced error Tuesday in the 2024 Republican presidential primary when she said that one of the first things she'd do as President of the United States is require that social media companies ban anonymous accounts and that they verify all of their users by name. Haley was roundly criticized over this likely unconstitutional plan, which is so tone-deaf that one could easily believe that she just spoke without thinking and would surely issue a statement walking it back a bit. Nope. Apparently this is a plan she'd been thinking about and developing talking points about...

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley called for an end to anonymity on social media during a television appearance on Nov. 14. “Every person on social media should be verified by their name,” the 2024 presidential hopeful said while fielding questions from voters on Fox News’s “The Faulkner Focus,” hosted by Harris Faulkner. “First of all, it’s a national security threat. When you do that, all of a sudden, people have to stand by what they say. And it gets rid of the Russian bots, the Iranian bots, and the Chinese bots. And then you’re going to get some civility, when...

After years of steadily accumulating power, 2021 is the year that Big Tech well and truly flexed its muscle. Gone are the days of banning mere Twitter pundits and demonetizing YouTube channels. In 2021, Big Tech silenced the sitting US president. They stopped the elected chief executive of the world’s largest economy and most powerful military from communicating with the American people. He lost the ability to tweet, post videos, or even send out a mass email.

Singer and actress Cher said Thursday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that she still wanted to wear a mask even though she was vaccinated for coronavirus. Anchor Nicolle Wallace said, “I want to talk about everything you are doing, but how is your life? Is life back the normal for you?” Cher said, “Well, you know, I still feel like I need to wear a mask when I go outside. I just have that feeling.” Wallace said, “Me too.” Cher said, “Yeah. I just feel — you know, and I’ve been vaccinated and all that, but I have that just little eh....

Microsoft has teamed up with a number of tech and media companies to create a system of tracing content around the internet that could destroy online privacy and anonymity, radically transforming the nature of the web. Against stiff competition, the alliance of tech and media giants has devised a plan that may constitute Big Tech’s most brazen power-grab yet. According to Microsoft’s press release, it has partnered with several other organizations to form the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). Put simply, the purpose of this organization is to devise a system whereby all content on the internet can...

If The New York Times was willing to lie about its anonymous source for their high-profile information operation, imagine the lies they're willing to tell about all the other anonymous sources they use. wo years after the New York Times published an op-ed from what they described as an anonymous, principled conservative “senior administration official,” it turned out to have been written by a low-level bureaucrat who later worked for tech giant Google and gave money to far-left Democrats.Miles Taylor revealed he was the author of the highly hyped op-ed headlined “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump...

Are the ‘Whistleblower’ and the West Wing Spy the Same Person? When Paul Sperry put a name to the “whistleblower” last week, it was already quite well known in Washington circles who that person was. And a lot was known about his connections to the DNC, John Brennan, Joe Biden and the top tier of FBI officials who had targeted Trump and his campaign.Nevertheless, one of the attorneys for this person, Mark Zaid of Whistleblower Aid, put out a statement saying that the release of Eric Ciaramella’s name “is at the pinnacle of irresponsibility and is intentionally reckless.” That’s right,...

Attorneys for the whistleblower who triggered impeachment proceedings against President Trump see the three-decade "Deep Throat" mystery as a model for keeping his identity secret. The secret of "Deep Throat" was kept from the early '70s until 2005, when former FBI associate director Mark Felt came forward at 91 years old. He died two years later. Whistleblower attorney Mark Zaid, an aficionado of Watergate history, said leaving his client's identity unresolved indefinitely would encourage future whistleblowers. “Our ideal ending is that the identity of the whistleblower is never known and the individual continues on with their personal and professional life...

Full title: Gregg Jarrett: Whistleblower not entitled to anonymity – He’s an informant acting as a Democratic operativeThe notion that the Ukraine “whistleblower” is somehow entitled to anonymity was probably first peddled by the Flat Earth Society. It is a myth and demonstrably so. It is understandable why unscrupulous Democrats like Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., have perpetuated the canard. As chairman of the House Intelligence Committee – which is presiding over the current impeachment “witch hunt” – Schiff is determined to conceal his own involvement with the faux “whistleblower” and his subsequent deceit about those machinations. But it is incomprehensible...

AN Newsroom UPDATED 3:25 PM PT — Saturday, November 2, 2019 The whistleblower’s legal team is saying it won’t hesitate to take legal action against media outlets that identify him. Speaking to the Daily Caller, the whistleblower’s attorneys said any organization that reports his name will be personally liable if that person is physically harmed.

President Trump on Sunday evening railed against the whistleblower and other individuals at the center of a growing scandal involving his phone call with Ukraine's president, warning there could be "big consequences." "Like every American, I deserve to meet my accuser, especially when this accuser, the so-called "Whistleblower," represented a perfect conversation with a foreign leader in a totally inaccurate and fraudulent way. Then [Rep. Adam] Schiff made up what I actually said by lying to Congress," Trump said in a series of tweets. "His lies were made in perhaps the most blatant and sinister manner ever seen in the...

Lindsey Graham: If Ford Had No Intention Of Coming Forward, Why’d She Take A Polygraph In Early August?(FULL TITLE) ’ve written half a dozen posts about the WaPo story since Sunday and feel embarrassed that I missed this simple but salient point. My focus has been on the fact that Christine Blasey Ford approached Democrats — and the Post itself — back in July with her story, then clammed up all the way through Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing. Only at the eleventh hour, after the letter she sent to Dianne Feinstein mysteriously leaked last week, did she decide to enter the...

Just imagine this situation for a moment. You’ve checked your lottery tickets and discovered that you’ve won almost half a billion dollars. You’ve signed the ticket and are ready to go. What in the world would stop you at this point? That’s the issue facing one anonymous woman in New Hampshire right now. She’s got the valid winning ticket but wants the ability to receive her prize anonymously and not have her name announced for all to hear. (Washington Post) The winning numbers triple-checked and the lottery ticket signed, the New Hampshire woman knew her life was about to...

BAGHDAD – The U.S. military has barred Iraqi interpreters working with American troops in Baghdad from wearing ski masks to disguise themselves, prompting some to resign and others to bare their faces even though they fear it could get them killed. --snip-- “The terps are the number one wanted here,” said A.J., a 36-year-old military interpreter, using the shorthand for his profession. “More than the Americans. More than anyone.” --snip-- U.S. military officials said they began to enforce the mask ban in September. “We are a professional Army and professional units don’t conceal their identity by wearing masks,” Lt. Col....

Every so often, people who don't really understand the importance of anonymity or how it enables free speech (especially among marginalized people), think they have a brilliant idea: "just end real anonymity online." They don't seem to understand just how shortsighted such an idea is. It's one that stems from the privilege of being in power. And who knows that particular privilege better than members of the House of Lords in the UK -- a group that is more or less defined by excess privilege? The Communications Committee of the House of Lords has now issued a report concerning "social...

Glenn Reynolds highlights a rather touchy story from across the pond, where Peter Lloyd, writing for the Telegraph, points out that the assumptions of both innocence and privacy are handled rather unequally in sexual assault cases. The primary case under discussion involves the handling of laws in the UK, but parallel debates are taking place in the United States today. Lloyd speaks rather passionately about what happened to Oxford University Union President Ben Sullivan following what turned out to be two unfounded rape allegations. After five weeks of public humiliation, finger-pointing and gender bias – both on campus and...

SALT LAKE CITY — First off, I am not talking about those silly wild haired dolls with jewels in their belly buttons. I am also not speaking about the ones that live under bridges and eat small children. I am speaking about the spineless bottom feeders who sit at their computer all day bullying other people with inflammatory comments and remarks. A troll's sole purpose in life is to comment about an article, statement, question in a forum or other Internet venue so that comment will upset the target person or persons to the point where they are yelling at...

An entrepreneur as professionally careful as the Dread Pirate Roberts doesn’t trust instant messaging services. Forget phones or Skype. At one point during our eight-month preinterview courtship, I offer to meet him at an undisclosed location outside the United States. “Meeting in person is out of the question,” he says. “I don’t meet in person even with my closest advisors.” When I ask for his name and nationality, he’s so spooked that he refuses to answer any other questions and we lose contact for a month. All my communications with Roberts are routed exclusively through the messaging system and forums...

I just had a thought. What if we had a National Name Change day, and all men changed their name to John Smith, and all women changed their name to Jane Smith? That would really mess up some gov databases, wouldn't it?

A Roman Catholic Church employee who gave $600 to a group leading the opposition to a Minnesota constitutional amendment limiting marriage to heterosexual couples does not have to reveal his name. State campaign finance regulators said in a decision Friday, Aug. 17, that the donor could be identified as "John Doe" in contribution reports to protect him from being fired by church officials. It is the first time an individual has been exempted from the state's disclosure requirement, said Gary Goldsmith, executive director of the state Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. The donor told the board that when he...