Posted on 02/11/2005 10:55:36 AM PST by Jim Robinson
The shot heard around the Internet has been fired on FreeRepublic.com The owner Jim Robinson and his moderators have launched a sniper style purge against members that disagree with the President’s ‘guest worker’ amnesty or support more control of illegal immigration. Free Republic is an amazing tool for those looking for a good debate and news from around the country.
The problem for the administration of the site is that their creation is allowing the participants to learn that the Bush immigration record and plans are shockingly out of line with the views of most conservatives. The management’s answer to this conflict between the majority of conservatives and the influence of the White House on their Web site has become electronic executions and censorship.
Members and readers of Free Republic would be surprised to know that many members of their community have fallen silent on the discussions about illegal immigration lately because free speech is an illusion on FR.com. They are silent because they have been banned from the Web site without warning, cause, or explanation in most cases. For weeks the moderators have been suspending and banning new members that chimed in quickly on the immigration debates.
Now this trend has broadened as the first groups of long-term users were suspended or banned this past week. Although Robinson and his staff removed many members of the Free Republic community in the first few days of the purge, those that religiously support President Bush’s immigration plan, open borders and approve of public benefits for illegal aliens remain on the forum. Those that were banned were the members that wanted more done to control illegal immigration and a strict observance to the President’s Oath of Office.
Wrong. You just wish I couldn't.
Like I said, you can't support your contentions. If you could then you would. if you can't , you take off in another direction like you just did. C'mon....give me a source; give me a number, ANYTHING that can be verified....
That's about 20 relatively small cargo ships' worth across one year.
And how many "small cargo ships" do we have disgorging hordes of illegals on our shores? Like "ZERO"?
Yeah, it's viable. BTW, I probably have urinated more saltwater than you've ever sailed over, sonny-boy
And this is supposed to MEAN something? A fisherman in a dugout out of Papua, New Guinea could say the same thing but that hardly makes him an expert on illegal immigration issues in the US. My nephew is a Coastie loadmaster/flight engineer flying interdiction missions on C-130's. Wanna compare sources?
The mexican kids, Americans now, will go to school and learn the skills their fathers never knew.
Save it. I'll be back after unconsciousness.
Would that be Harpo, Groucho, Zeppo, Chico or Gummo Marx?
How does this get to be so casual for some people. Landmines on our border. Like it's nothing. No thought involved at all.
Man, you think border property values are low because of illegals streaming across the border...wait till you got a monsterous fence for a southern view with explosives on the other side.
Nobodys plays at that house cause you can't retrive your baseball or kite that goes over the fence. Hope there ain't any towns on the border or in the path of the mine field. And after we build an impregnable wall around our country we will build a ladder to the Moon.
That won't work! The moon's not in a geosyncronous orbit.
..and a telescoping ladder running on a rail system around the earth is simply cost prohibitive.
;)
Blah, blah, blah. Got to hand it to ya, you have a good heart, but lost it upstairs.
That has been bantered around in here for years. I seriously doubt if the management of this site has the time or the inclination to read FR mail.
Heck, how would Jim and the Mods have time to ban all the innocent people they do if they were reading mail all the time?
That being said, anyone that posts ANYTHING on the www that they don't want others to see or that they are ashamed of is just being foolish.
Nothing ever leaves the Internet, or your computer for that matter.
I imagine in this day and age there are 10 year olds that can hack into any area of the internet and see anything they want.
And you don't reject anything that crosses your line?
Basically you are saying that the only acceptable reform is to deport all the illegals to the last and seal the border.
"The only acceptable reform"? If you scroll my posts I have said no such thing.
Yes, I think all illegals should be deported--they broke the law after all!--and it doesn't have to be done in a day. But this will require commitment, determination, and perseverance on the part of our elected officials, and I'm not sure we have that yet.
Re. "sealing the border", earlier on this thread I asked someone how exactly would it be done? When people use the term "close the border", what do they mean--a wall, electric fence, border agents every 100 feet, land mines?
I think the key to solving the problem is to start at the source: Remove illegals' access to jobs. Smash employers of illegals with heavy fines and jail time. Make loud and clear examples of them. At the same time, all taxpayer-funded welfare to illegals must end. If the illegals can't get jobs and can't get welfare, fewer of them will want to come or stay.
The disconnect here is that the pro-amnesty camp would rather give up on the issue, complaining about the "impossibility" of certain options, whereas those against illegal immigration believe it is such an important issue for the health and safety of our nation that it's worth pursuing *real* solutions.
Whoa Willie! Big ups loud and proud. Well said. Not that you probably care but I'm going to have to reassess my opinion of you. I had you pegged all wrong. I'm glad to read this.
Don't get sucked in by Savage's rants.
Look at it for what it is. We have borders, and for a reason.
We have a language, and those that have learned it when they come here do quite well, because they assimilate.
We also have a culture, unique to the USA.
Those that come here and wish to retain their culture, nothing wrong with that. But those who come here and wish to have Americans conform to their culture should stay in their "culture" and fix their own countries.
I'm no lawyer, but we don't disagree that the code is a joke!
Why is it wrong to think that can't be changed?
I missed what had happened with Sabertooth, and I was disappointed to learn he'd been banned.
Anyhow, it was an enjoyable discussion. Hasta la vista... ;-)
I feel the same way about you...except I'm not too sure about the heart thing.
I do appreciate the site's contributions.
However, vigilantism started the country and some form of it sustains it to this day. To throw out the race card is a little over-the-top I think especially without incident. This is a favorite tactic of the left to marginalize right-thinking patriots. One more September 11th style attack that could be traced back to an illegal border crossing and Bush (favorite President of my lifetime next to Reagan) will have no political defense and we will have sustained another historic blow- this is apparently Bush's blind spot.
Only you can decide the level of legal risk you're willing to accept- it is your site of course. But my gut says, "Don't bail out on the Free Republic now."
We just need the right architect. M.C. Escher
This thread started because of a situation that is not new here on FR.
The immigration threads have come to the attention of management and Jim did what he had to do and opened all this and other stuff up for discussion so we can learn something.
The mods are having a time on these threads. People are getting hot, throwing insults, race cards and the like because of the type of debate.
I ran into this back a few months, when sabertooth got into trouble along with some others, and I left the debate. I could not decipher why it was getting hot and heavy and I am quite sure the mods were having a time with finding out who to blame and justifying a zot.
Well, I think I know what it is. I am here to discuss the immigration problem and debate the various ideas or tell others mine. I am here to discuss, debate and come to solutions. Others are as well, but some are here who are not debating, they are stating convictions. You cannot debate convictions.
If you try, the conviction gets restated in a slightly different way and the poor guy trying to debate says "what"?
If you have a conviction, stay off the debate threads, or come and state your conviction one time and that is all, because your not going to debate it. IT IS A CONVICTION!
Please state it and sit back and watch the others debate issues and formulate arguments, and maybe learn something, but don't come armed with convictions.
I recall doing that one time on a gun thread, and five posters eventually thought I was a FBI plant.
You see, when you don't debate, people think you have some other motives for being there.
It sounds pretty simple, and it is. Don't bring convictions to a debate. Because you can't compromise it, you cannot debate it and you are bound to get angry and insulted. Then you will protect your conviction by going after others.
I have convictions about many things. I can't debate them either.
Just passing on something important that I learned today.
I hope some see what I am saying and relate it to something that happened to them on a thread that turned into a flamer. See if someone, maybe you, brought a conviction to a debate.
Thank you very much!
I am now free to go to bed.
I'm sure that is your conviction! :-)
G'nite.
"I personally applauded Jim's two-pronged effort to silence those whose main goals were the defeat of GWB and to foment conservative opposition to Bush through the vehicle of FreeRepublic."
Bump to that, My2Cents! Thanks for the ping.
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