Free Republic

Half a century ago, George Orwell, writing on literary censorship, wrote that “unpopular ideas can be silenced, and inconvenient facts kept dark, without the need for any official ban.” That dynamic now broadly extends to an opaque network of government agencies and self-proclaimed anti-misinformation groups that have repressed online speech. There’s no official ban on discussing the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines or criticizing American involvement in the Ukraine-Russia war, but editors and journalists have realized that writing on such topics can come at a cost. News publishers have been demonetized and shadow-banned for reporting dissenting views and the bureaucratic means...

The other day I wrote that “Woke” was the new conformism. It is, of course, but I undersold it. It is much more than that and more dangerous. As Tal Bachmann notes at Steynonline, it is now our state religion, a state religion in a country that—constitutionally and for good reason—is not supposed to have one. * * * * * * * * “Woke” gains adherents much in the manner of “est”—the cult-like Erhard Seminars Training—that I attended in the 1970s at the behest of a movie producer interested in making a film about it. (It never happened.) If...

Twitter unveiled a feature Monday meant to bolster its efforts to combat misinformation and disinformation by tapping users in a fashion similar to Wikipedia to flag potentially misleading tweets. The new system allows users to discuss and provide context to tweets they believe are misleading or false. The project, titled Birdwatch, is a standalone section of Twitter that will at first only be available to a small set of users, largely on a first-come, first-served basis. Priority will not be provided to high-profile people or traditional fact-checkers, but users will have to use an account tied to a real phone...

Future Forward USA Action wants you to know that who you vote for may be a secret, but whether or not you voted is public information, so your friends, family and community will know if you voted in this election. You're encouraged to vote on or by November 3.

BLM invaded Lake Oswego, Oregon, on Sunday and demanded allegiance from suburban shoppers and diners who were on the streets.

Granted, the foundation of America's Red Guards and the Cancel Culture Movement is not as easily traced as is the CCP's sponsorship of Mao's Cultural Revolution America’s Cancel Culture Revolution has flourished in Big Blue Cities –—most notably Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington —where local and state politicians show their support of America’s Red Guards by dismissing the seriousness of their criminal activities, and ordering their police forces to stand-down. Previously on this site, the behavioral characteristics of America’s Red Guards were compared to Mao’s Red Guards. The parallels are too obvious to ignore.

“CHINA’S CULTURAL REVOLUTION COMES TO AMERICA” America’s Red Guard Posted By Daniel Greenfield On May 7, 2014 @ 12:57 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage As the 50th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution approaches some of the former students who participated in its Red Guard terror have been trying to make amends to their victims. If China’s former leftist fanatics feel some remorse for the atrocities they participated in, the same can’t be said of their American counterparts. Even as the Cultural Revolution was dying down in China, it flared up in the United States. The Weather Underground drew inspiration from China’s...

Students can now get paid to snitch on their peers at the University of Sheffield. The students will earn £9.34/hour to be “race equality champions,” and their training for the work will include teaching them how to “lead healthy conversations” on racism, microaggressions, and how to deal with those peers who commit infractions. Hours range from two to nine hours per week, like any part-time work-study job. But Sheffield University’s foray into “snitch culture” sounds alarm bells. Following a report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission that cautioned about the “common occurrence” of racism for some students on campus,...

It’s the latest euphemism for the radical left. The American public may have finally caught on to the previous euphemism, “progressive.” Justice Democrats aren’t fooling around, and they’re not bothered by many of the considerations that dog their more moderate colleagues. Justice Democrats must feel that the time is right to lay at least a few of their cards on the table and to oppose those party members they call “radical conservatives.”

A students' union pays for £12-per-hour 'safe space marshals' to police external speakers to make sure they do not voice views that are offensive to the audience. King's College Students' Union requires marshals to attend events with a phone in hand so they can take 'immediate action' if anyone expresses opinions though to discriminate against ethnic or sexual minorities.