Free Republic

On the heels of the breach of the U.S. Capitol, Big Tech companies have swiftly censored the President, the emerging social media platform Parler was effectively shut down, and there are growing calls for no-fly lists. Does the assault on the Capitol warrant such a response? “We’re living in a gigantic lie that is reminiscent of the Reichstag fire,” argues talk show host Dennis Prager, founder of Prager University. This is American Thought Leaders, and I’m Jan Jekielek.

Aa a coinage goes, deep tech is superior to the Big-Tech term. It better captures the deforming power and tentacular reach into state and civil society of the high-tech monopolists. That reach notwithstanding, many libertarian-minded and “small-government conservatives” (a contradiction in terms, considering the national debt is $28 trillion) have been stalwart defenders of the rights of Deep Tech to deploy unprovoked financial force to kneecap those users who don’t conform to the tech oligarchy’s monolithic image of the Ideal Citizen.David French, writer at the Dispatch—and one of the many political dwarfs tossed periodically at Donald Trump by Never Trumpsters...

It wasn't just Donald Trump's detractors who felt a sudden sense of relief when they heard that Twitter was blocking his feed after the storming of the Capitol and the disruption of the reading of the Electoral College results on Jan. 6. While President Trump's exact words to the crowd on the Ellipse didn't constitute a criminal incitement, they were uttered with a reckless disregard for the possibility that they'd provoke violence, which any reasonable person could find impeachable. But a moment's reflection should have left any believer in free speech feeling queasy about a private firm censoring the president...

U.S.—Donald Trump was permanently banned from Twitter today, being a crazy fringe extremist who also happens to be the president of the United States. But the ever-clever Trump, always known as the smartest man in the room, has managed to get back on the social network by disguising himself as one Chongald Xrump, PR specialist for the Chinese Communist Party. Trump is reportedly attempting to build a following by tweeting about how good Uighur concentration camps are and how nice the Chinese government is, since those things are not banned under Twitter's terms of service. Once he has enough followers,...

I heard it is supposed to be about Big Tech, but maybe it's border wall stuff. Who knows for sure these days.

The trial of Austrian anti-Sharia activist Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff for “denigrating” Islam has major implications for free speech in Europe. (Also read Michael Ledeen: "Islamophobia") The “hate speech” trial of the Austrian housewife and anti-Islam activist Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff resumed at a Vienna courthouse on January 18, following a two-month break in the hearings. Sabaditsch-Wolff, who has been charged with “incitement of hatred” and “denigrating religious teachings” after giving a series of seminars about the dangers of radical Islam, faces a possible three year prison sentence. Her case, which is eerily similar to the one involving the Dutch politician Geert Wilders,...

YouTube has removed Steve Bannon’s podcast channel, The War Room. The removal happened fast on the heels of the latest episode featuring President Trump’s personal lawyer, and former Major of New York, Rudy Giuliani. YouTube claimed that the podcast violated its terms of service. It appears it did not like that Giuliani speculated on where Capitol Hill protesters came from. “Most of them hadn’t come there with implements to do it and also led on by people from, you know, groups that are experts at it,” Giuliani said on the podcast. “Believe me, Trump people were not scaling the wall....

“Too many universities and school systems are about radical left indoctrination, not education. Therefore, I am telling the Treasury Department to re-examine their Tax-Exempt status and/or funding, which will be taken away if this propaganda or act against public policy continues. Our children must be educated, not indoctrinated!” -President Trump on free speech on college campuses. Remember that part in the previous section where I mentioned that because universities take public funding (even many private ones), they have to follow federal policy? Well this is one way they enforce their rules. By using the power of the purse. So, if...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rules Committee Chairman James McGovern (D-MA) unveiled the rules for the 117th Congress on Friday, which contain “future-focused” proposals, including the elimination of gendered terms, such as “father, mother, son, and daughter.” “This package, which will be introduced and voted on once the new Congress convenes, includes sweeping ethics reforms, increases accountability for the American people, and makes this House of Representatives the most inclusive in history,” said the House Committee on Rules in a statement.

Oregon has lifted capacity limits on religious gatherings following a series of US Supreme Court orders that indicated Oregon’s restrictions were likely unconstitutional. The change was made in the “Sector Risk Level Guidance Chart” of restrictions published by the Oregon Health Authority in a low-profile footnote that “Capacity limits for faith institutions are recommended only.” Although the Governor’s COVID-19 website has not been updated as of this morning, OHA documents say this change was effective Friday, December 18, 2020. Other requirements, such as maintaining six feet of social distance between households, regular sanitation, and wearing masks are still applicable. This...

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, signed legislation on Tuesday prohibiting the sale of Confederate flags on public property, including at state and local fairs. Cuomo was well aware that such legislation is likely to fail a First Amendment test, but this did not deter him. "This country faces a pervasive, growing attitude of intolerance and hate—what I have referred to in the body politic as an American cancer," he wrote. "By limiting the display and sale of the confederate flag, Nazi swastika and other symbols of hatred from being displayed or sold on state property, including the state...

Moscow, December 11, Interfax - Russian President Vladimir Putin has given the Foreign Ministry until March 1, 2021 to initiate discussions on international forums concerning measures to prevent actions insulting religious feelings of believers and fomenting interfaith enmity and conflicts. The presidential instruction was published on the Kremlin's official website on Friday, following Putin's recent meeting with representatives of religious groups. The Foreign Ministry has also been told "to consider the possible conclusion of international agreements and (or) the adoption of a UN General Assembly resolution on such matters." Ismail Berdiyev, the head of the Coordinating Center of Muslims of...

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A three-member U.S. appeals court panel appeared sympathetic Tuesday to arguments by lawyers for two Nevada churches that say state COVID-19 restrictions treating churches differently than casinos and other secular businesses violate their First Amendment rights. The 9th Circuit panel in San Francisco heard arguments via video from lawyers for Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley east of Reno and Cavalry Chapel Lone Mountain in Las Vegas who want the appellate court to reverse earlier district court rulings upholding hard attendance caps Gov. Steve Sisolak has set on the size of indoor worship services. They say churches should...

Facebook has updated its hate speech algorithm, reversing years of neutrality to prioritize anti-black comments while making anti-white slurs the lowest priority. The tech giant’s new system for detecting hate speech, known internally as the WoW Project, will automatically delete hateful language directed at the LGBTQ community, Jews, Muslims and African Americans — which has been dubbed by Facebook engineers as the “worst of the worst,” the Washington Post reported. The company will now begin scoring hate speech and offensive posts, and remarks about “men,” “whites” and “Americans” will be marked “low sensitivity,” the report said.

Facebook is embarking on a major overhaul of its algorithms that detect hate speech, according to internal documents, reversing years of so-called “race-blind” practices. Those practices resulted in the company being more vigilant about removing slurs lobbed against White users while flagging and deleting innocuous posts by people of color on the platform. The overhaul, which is known as the WoW Project and is in its early stages, involves re-engineering Facebook’s automated moderation systems to get better at detecting and automatically deleting hateful language that is considered “the worst of the worst,” according to internal documents describing the project obtained...

On Nov. 10, in Spell v. Edwards, a Louisiana federal district court dismissed a suit by megachurch pastor Tony Spell challenging the state's COVID-19 limits on worship services. Plaintiff filed an Emergency Application for an Injunction Pending Appeal with Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, contending: This case presents a threshold question that other applicants did not present to this Court in prior religious liberty challenges: Whether the First Amendment places the decision of whether to assemble solely within the jurisdiction of the Church and not the State.

As coronavirus cases surge again nationwide the Supreme Court late Wednesday temporarily barred New York from enforcing certain attendance limits at houses of worship in areas designated as hard hit by the virus. The justices split 5-4 to bar the state from enforcing the restrictions against the groups for now, with new Justice Amy Coney Barrett in the majority. It was the conservative's first publicly discernible vote as a justice. The court’s three liberal justices and Chief Justice John Roberts dissented

Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) warned on Sunday that certain areas of New York City are heading toward tighter coronavirus restrictions, including the most restrictive “red zone” which prohibits all gatherings deemed “non-essential.” The Democrat governor stated some areas, namely Staten Island, Long Island, and parts of Manhattan, are “in the warning track” and could soon face additional restrictions due to concerns over rising infection rates and hospital capacity.

New York's dictatorial governor, Andrew Cuomo, may have met his match. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn is asking the Supreme Court of the United States to strike down Cuomo's Oct. 6 executive order shutting down "houses of worship " in areas of Brooklyn and Queens, while allowing "essential" businesses, like pet stores, groceries and big-box stores to stay open. Cuomo insists he's battling COVID-19. The Diocese says Cuomo's making a value judgment that going to Target is "essential" but taking communion isn't. Truth is, for devout communicants who are already suffering social isolation during the pandemic, finding the church...

Richard Stengel, new ‘team lead‘ for Joe Biden’s agency for global media, wrote an op-ed last year arguing for free speech restrictions. Stengel, a former MSNBC political analyst until he was named to Biden’s transition team, argued that the First Amendment needed redefining and that “hate speech” should be a crime. “All speech is not equal. And where truth cannot drive out lies, we must add new guardrails,” he wrote. “I’m all for protecting ‘thought that we hate,’ but not speech that incites hate.” ‘Speech that incites hate’ was defined in Stengel’s op-ed by two examples – Burning the Quran,...