Free Republic

Leftist speech suppressors are at it again, but this time they’re apparently being subsidized by the American taxpayer. On Monday, House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) sent a letter to the head of the National Science Foundation (NSF), demanding information about the nearly $1 million spent on the “Truthy” data-mining project that monitors political speech on Twitter.

President Obama plans to discuss differences with Chinese President Xi Jinping “directly and candidly,” he said in a written interview with China’s state-run Xinhua news agency. Obama regularly conducts such written interviews with prominent news organizations in the countries where he travels, but the decision to talk to an organ of the Chinese government could raise eyebrows amid continuing concerns over Beijing’s human rights record. At a press conference with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Monday, Obama said he continued to have “concerns” about China’s actions. “There are certain things that the United States believes. We believe in freedom...

Weeks after Maryland State Police and federal agents seized reporting files from a former Washington Times journalist’s home, a Homeland Security agent checked the materials out of the police evidence room for an hour, according to logs that shine new light on a case that has raised First Amendment concerns. The custody logs don’t state why the reporting materials were removed from evidence Sept. 3, about a month after they were seized from reporter Audrey Hudson’s home during a search in an unrelated investigation of her husband. But they do show that the Homeland Security agent checked out files and...

There are two great freedoms being assaulted under the radar that will soon come to the fore: the freedom to live and the freedom to speak. Both parties use abortion as a litmus test. You want the Democratic nomination for any federal or state office; you need to support a woman’s right to abortion. You want the Republican nomination for any federal or state office; you better claim that you are pro-life. I say “claim” because that’s all Republicans need to do to satisfy each other. If Republicans truly were pro-life, they’d have passed a one-paragraph statute when they ran...

The lawlessness of UNC administrators continues to make headlines across the nation. Most of this lawlessness comes from administrative offices dedicated to promoting “diversity.” It is no wonder that most of the fake classes taken by student athletes at UNC were listed under African American Studies. Where we find multiculturalism, we find the denial of objective truth. Where we find the denial of objective truth, we find people who lie and deny it. Of course we find plenty of lies and deception associated with virtually every activity initiated by the LGBTQIA Office and Women's Resource Center (WRC) at UNCW. The...

Not content with the total bias and domination of the news networks, CNN, and the nation's leading newspapers, the Democrats on the Federal Election Commission have moved to assert federal control over Internet political speech. Claiming the authority to regulate political postings and blogs as independent campaign expenditures, they want to apply federal campaign finance laws to online voices. According to the Washington Examiner, the three Democrats on the FEC moved at the Oct. 24 meeting to impose "burdensome new rules on Internet-based campaigning." The three Republican members on the commission beat back the measure, warning the proposal would regulate...

The Federal Election Commission deadlocked in a crucial Internet campaign speech vote announced late last week, leaving online political blogging and videos free of many of the reporting requirements attached to broadcast ads — for now. All three Republican-backed members voted against restrictions, but they were opposed by the three Democrat-backed panel members, including Vice Chairwoman Ann M. Ravel, who said she will lead a push next year to come up with rules for government political speech on the Internet. It would mark a major reversal for the commission, which for nearly a decade has protected the

In 2014 censorship has become a product of the left. Arguably censorship in the United States has always been a product of the progressives. They have forever tried to link National Socialist book burnings with conservatives. In reality, it is modern liberals who want to censor free speech. The McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law sought to impose restrictions on who may speak prior to an election. The progressive law intended to limit speech to government approved speakers. Namely politicians and the mainstream press. Everyone else saw their right to speak restricted. The Citizens United case, which centered around the showing...

In a surprise move late Friday, a key Democrat on the Federal Election Commission called for burdensome new rules on internet-based campaigning, prompting the Republican chairman to warn that the left wants to regulate conservative political sites and even news outlets like the Drudge Report. Democratic FEC Vice Chair Ann M. Ravel announced plans to begin the process to win regulations on internet-based campaigns and videos, currently free from most of the FEC’s rules. “A reexamination of the commission’s approach to the internet and other emerging technologies is long over due,” she said. The powerplay followed a deadlocked 3-3 vote...

After Pressure, Google Restores Blog Julio Severo in Portuguese By Julio Severo With no explanation or notification, Google made my blog in Portuguese (http://juliosevero.blogspot.com/) disappear in the first minutes of Thursday, October 23. After 24 hours of pressure from international readers, with no notification, Google made my blog reappear. People in Brazil and other nations began to question Google in social networks and also by contacting the company: “Why to suspend Blog Julio Severo in Portuguese on the height of the Brazilian presidential elections in the exact time Severo published an article instructing the Brazilian public that both candidates...

A free speech courage award should go to U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa for his recent ruling blocking the enforcement of part of Wisconsin's campaign finance law that prohibits “coordinated issue advocacy” between outside groups and candidates. Liberal, overzealous Badger State prosecutors have tried to use a very subjective interpretation of the law as justification for their four-year, failed witch hunt to try and bring down Governor Scott Walker and his allies.Earlier this year, the same Judge Randa ordered a shut-down of the nefarious so-called “John Doe” investigation – a secret probe launched in 2012 by partisan Democrat District Attorney...

Earlier this week, the federal government's National Science Foundation, an entity created to encourage the study of science -- encouragement that it achieves by awarding grants to scholars and universities -- announced that it had awarded a grant to study what people say about themselves and others in social media. The NSF dubbed the project Truthy, a reference to comedian Stephen Colbert's invention and hilarious use of the word "truthiness." The reference to Colbert is cute, and he is a very funny guy, but when the feds get into the business of monitoring speech, it is surely no joke; it...

It all started in September, when Houston Mayor Annise Parker and City Attorney David Feldman issued an "overly broad" subpoena for the sermons of select ministers who opposed the city's equal rights ordinance. Because of intense national opposition from even Texas' attorney general, this past Wednesday, Parker and Feldman appeared to recant or at least reduce their flagrant overreach and disregard of the ministers' legal protections under the First Amendment. By the weekend, however, the truth came out that they were only using political smoke and mirrors to try to simmer the patriotic fury; they were not changing course to...

A new law will come into effect in Sweden after Christmas 2014, that will allow people to be prosecuted for criticizing immigration or politician’s unwillingness to tackle the issue. The Constitutional Committee’s report has been voted for in parliament, seen in a letter from the Parliamentary Offices. Member of Parliament Andrew Norlén, member of the Constitutional Committee, has been pushing the issue and he says it will rapidly become a deterrent. ... Without freedom of speech there can be no democracy. If you are not allowed to say certain things then parties that support your ideas cannot exist and Sweden...

Pompeo v. Board of Regents (D.N.M. Sept. 29, 2014, but apparently not substantially publicized until Thursday): The University of New Mexico offered a class and Plaintiff enrolled in that class. The subject matter of the class (“Images of (Wo)men: From Icons to Iconoclasts”) as set out in [the Complaint] was chosen by the class instructor, Defendant Hinkley, to spark “incendiary” class discussions. The syllabus assured students that “it’s quite clear that we do not expect anyone to necessarily agree with the positions and arguments advanced in our work. There’s controversy built right into the syllabus, and we can’t wait to...

People found guilty of Internet "trolling" in Britain could be jailed for up to two years under government proposals outlined on Sunday, following a number of high-profile cases of abusive and threatening behaviour on Twitter. Justice Secretary Chris Grayling told the Mail on Sunday newspaper: "This is a law to combat cruelty -- and marks our determination to take a stand against a baying cyber-mob." There has been increasing concern in Britain about the growing scourge of Internet "trolls" who post hate-filled messages on social media, often threatening their targets. The parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann are among the...

This Texan takes bumper stickers to a whole new level. A photo of a truck with Texas tags that features on the tailgate one the most racist decals, complete with a real (and fresh) banana, that targets President Barack Obama was posted to Reddit on Thursday. "Does this Socialist a** make my truck look too big," the decal, which appears to be professionally done, reads. It also includes photo of Obama dressed in Somalian garb from a 2006 meeting in the country. The image was taken in the East Texas town of Tyler at the intersection of Loop 323 and...

Officials and campus cops at Southern Oregon University threatened to call the police on a group of four students who were distributing copies of the U.S. Constitution outside the designated “free speech zone” last week. The Constitution kerfuffle occurred last Tuesday at the obscure public school in the middle of nowhere, Campus Reform reports. The students, all affiliated with Students for Concealed Carry, ironically were also gathering signatures for a petition to end the taxpayer-funded school’s restrictive speech policies. Administrators and school police officers didn’t like it. The four students say they were followed by bureaucrats and cops and threatened...

On October 14 feminist speaker Anita Sarkeesian canceled a speaking engagement at Utah State University upon learning that state law forbids the university from banning concealed carry on campus.

......a poetic plea from an 8-year-old boy. His message was broadcast inside a community center in Newark on Saturday afternoon, but his words were interrupted by gunshots. “Violence came as I was talking,” Nyeeam Hudson said. During Nyeeam’s plea for peace, a young man was shot and killed outside.