Free Republic

Obama’s embrace of censorship speaks to the desperation of a party that can’t survive without uniform control of the information space.. The modern Democrat Party is many things. But an ardent defender of Americans’ First Amendment right to free speech is not one of them. This theme was front and center during a sit-down interview former President Barack Obama participated in at The Connecticut Forum earlier this week. At one point in his conversation with historian and author Heather Cox Richardson, America’s 44th commander-in-chief broached the subject of “propaganda” and how “[t]hose in power, those with money, exploit [the information]...

In case you missed it, over the weekend, Twitter suspended the account of prominent conservative Robert Stacy McCain. This marks the second time in recent weeks that Twitter has suspended the account of a prominent conservative in addition to several other cases of prominent conservatives having their blue verification buttons removed. Also over the weekend, Washington Free Beacon's Adam Kredo reported that Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is teaming up with a pro-Iranian group for a fundraiser at the home of a Twitter executive. Clinton is scheduled to travel to Silicon Valley this weekend for three fundraisers with wealthy...

Amid a feared takeover bid from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Twitter’s board of directors threatened to fight back with a “poison pill” strategy, allowing it to flood the market with new shares if Musk buys more than 15 percent of the company. Fending off Musk’s $43 billion offer by creating more shares could dilute the value of shareholders’ stock — but Twitter’s 10 board members own just a tiny portion, Musk noted in an April 16 tweet: “The Twitter board collectively owns almost no shares! Objectively, their economic interests are simply not aligned with shareholders.” That same day, even Twitter...

I saved this image to imgur.com yesterday: Today when I wanted to link to it I got this: Evidently the meme hits a nerve. We'll see how long it lasts this time.

Vice President JD Vance was suspended from the left-leaning social media platform Bluesky on Wednesday, just minutes after joining and sharing his first post. “Hello Bluesky, I’ve been told this app has become the place to go for common sense political discussion and analysis,” Vance wrote in his first post on the X competitor. “So I’m thrilled to be here to engage with all of you.” The vice president went on to weigh in on the Supreme Court’s ruling that upheld Tennessee’s restrictions on transgender medical treatments for minors. “To that end, I found Justice [Clarence] Thomas’s concurrence on medical...

A federal judge in California has halted the Trump administration’s effort to dismantle the State Department’s Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R-FIMI) Hub, formerly known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC). In a June 13 order, US District Judge Susan Illston declared that the planned elimination of the unit, part of a broader push by the administration to downsize the federal government, violates an earlier injunction. Secretary of State Marco Rubio may have prematurely celebrated the end of R-FIMI back in April when he said the censorship unit was “dead.” Despite his announcement, legal barriers remain in place, preserving...

Afederal judge ordered the University of Oregon to pay $191,000 to Portland State University professor Bruce Gilley to cover his legal fees in a successful First Amendment challenge to its censorship of Gilley's comment "all men are created equal" in his retweet from UO's diversity, equity and inclusion office Twitter page, according to Gilley's lawyers. Gilley secured a preliminary injunction last summer that stops UO Equity's account on X, formerly Twitter, from blocking his interactions or "hiding, muting, or deleting" several kinds of his posts to its account. They settled in full this spring after nearly three years in court,...

On January 20, 2025, the first day of his second presidential term, Donald Trump signed an executive order: “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship.” The bad old days of the “censorship-industrial complex,” allegedly responsible for suppressing online speech under President Joe Biden, were over.Except they weren’t. The driving force behind online censorship had never been the U.S. government, which meant that freedom of speech could not be restored by the stroke of a president’s pen. Rather, the European Union has wielded its Digital Services Act (DSA) to restrict the speech not just of Europeans but especially of Americans...

“60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley spoke out about President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against CBS and its parent company on Saturday, arguing that a settlement would be “very damaging.” “Well, it’d be very damaging to CBS, to Paramount, to the reputation of those companies,” Pelley said during a conversation with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Saturday, who asked how harmful a settlement and potential apology would be to the network. Trump filed a lawsuit against Paramount Global, CBS News’ parent company, over a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris in October 2024. Fox News Digital confirmed that Trump rejected...

A tipster brought MRC Business’s attention to some damning information about one of website traffic cop NewsGuard’s senior editors, which begs the question of why she was even hired in the first place. Dina Contini, who had previously served in various editorial roles at liberal outlet Reuters, currently serves as the senior managing editor of NewsGuard. However, it appears that Contini has a sordid history of being accused of creating hostile work environments and engaging in harassment. “In a ‘Management Conduct Notice’ that the journalists’ union sent on Sept. 21 [to Reuters’s top brass], it claimed Dina Kyriakidou Contini, the...

This afternoon, President Donald Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum that instructs the Department of Justice and “other aspects of [his] government” to investigate Chris Krebs and his acts as the former Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). At the signing, President Trump’s White House staff secretary Will Scharf stated: “This is a man who weaponized his position against free speech in the election context and the context of COVID-19. This is a similar Presidential Memorandum to the one you just signed. It addresses his access to government existent clearances he might have and further instructs your Department...

The British economy continues to struggle under PM Keir Starmer, the military is depleted and a pension crisis is on the horizon, but there is one area where the UK is exceeding expectations. Starmer’s UK has achieved levels of political prisoners not only resembling but occasionally even outdoing those of Communist dictatorships like Cuba, Venezuela and even China. Freedom House estimated that Cuba has 2,768 political prisoners, Venezuela has 1,953 political prisoners, and thousands more in China. Starmer’s regime and an enthusiastic police force have easily outdone these backward Communist regimes by arresting over 1,000 people a month for social...

Since taking office, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has taken a series of actions to push back against growing foreign government demands to censor American citizens and American technology companies like Google, Meta, and X. In April, Rubio shut down the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC), which had funded censorship advocacy by the Global Disinformation Index, a UK-based NGO with ties to the Intelligence Community. Last week, Rubio said the administration was considering sanctions under the Magnitsky Act against Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes for his sweeping censorship edicts. And on Monday, senior State Department officials...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced new visa restrictions the Trump administration is implementing against foreign authorities who it says are "complicit" in censoring Americans. "For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights," Rubio wrote on X. "Today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans. Free speech is essential to the American way of life – a birthright over which foreign governments have no authority." Foreigners who work to undermine the rights of...

ArtieRaccoonReviews @ArtieReviews When South Park finally arrives on Paramount Plus in the US on July 1, the following episodes will be banned from the streaming service: - Season 1 Episode 4: "Big Gay Al's Big Boat Ride" - Season 2 Episode 1: "Terrance And Phillip In Not Without My Anus" - Season 4 Episode 14: "Pip/Great Expectations" - Season 5 Episode 3: "Super Best Friends" - Season 6 Episode 2: "Jared Has Aides" - Season 6 Episode 7: "Simpsons Did It'' - Season 7 Episode 1: "Cancelled" - Season 8 Episode 3: "Passion Of The Jew" - Season 8 Episode...

Disinformation is on the rise, again. Russia has revitalized its long history of waging disinformation campaigns. While proving cause-and-effect is difficult, we suspect that Russia’s increased efforts likely are linked to the White House’s dismantling of counter-disinformation efforts. Executive Order 14149: "Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship". On his first day in office, President Trump signed Executive Order 14149, prohibiting federal agencies from engaging in activities related to combating misinformation and disinformation. Dismantling counter-disinformation organizations. FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force: Disbanded in February 2025, this unit previously investigated foreign attempts to influence U.S. elections. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security...

Russia is going after TV series Game of Thrones, Sex and the City, and the Harry Potter franchise in an effort to purge what it claims is the promotion of "childfree ideology." The development comes months after Russia passed a bill banning what state-run news wires describe as the "public propaganda of the ideas of voluntarily choosing not to have children." It comes as Russia grapples with a dwindling birth rate and as President Vladimir Putin scrambles to encourage women to have children.

PORTLAND (WGME) -- The Supreme Court has ordered the Maine House to restore the vote of censured Representative Laurel Libby (R-Auburn). Libby was censured by the Maine Legislature after she posted the name and image of a transgender minor online. As part of the censure, she could not speak or vote on the House floor until she apologized, which she refused to do. In her lawsuit before the Supreme Court, Libby didn't contest the censure but the punishment, saying it violated her First Amendment rights and those of her constituents. Maine’s attorney general filed new paperwork both in district court...

Twitter allowed Cesar Sayoc, the man who allegedly sent apparent bombs to public figures around the country this month, to post more than 240 threats towards 50 different people on its social network without sanction. Meanwhile, the media managed to temporarily force free speech social network Gab offline after it was revealed that the Tree of Life Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting suspect had an account on the platform. According to CNN, an analysis discovered that “Sayoc tweeted more than 240 threats directed to at least 50 public officials, news organizations and media personalities.” “The threats, and Twitter’s apparent inaction regarding them,...

There comes a time in every man’s life when he must face the consequences of thinking for himself. For me, that moment arrived in a quiet digital knock at midnight—the “Community Guidelines Violation” email. Innocent enough on the surface. But it was the beginning of my journey through what can only be described as the Google Digital Re-Education Camp™. You think gulags are bad? Try being shadow banned so thoroughly your own mom can’t find your content. Welcome to Camp Compliance The invitation was simple: “Attend voluntarily or disappear algorithmically.” At first, I resisted. I figured I’d survive in the...