Free Republic

A new report just released by the House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government has offered shocking new insights into the full extent of the FBI’s efforts to use government power and resources to target, intimidate, and harass Catholics, pro-life activists, and other members of the religious community. The December 4 report found, among other disturbing revelations, that the FBI “abused its counterterrorism tools to target Catholic Americans as potential domestic terrorists” when agency operatives in Richmond, Virginia, circulated a memo designating so-called “radical-traditionalist Catholic[s]” as potential “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists.” “The Committee and Select Subcommittee...

The 7-month prison sentence of Douglass Mackey has been stayed per a federal judge. He was convicted in March for circulating a satirical meme that encouraged Hillary Clinton voters to cast their votes via text in the lead up to the 2016 election. The Motion Order reads: "granting motion for release pending appeal, at docket entry 16 Mackey's surrender date is stated. The District Court is ordered to determine the appropriate terms of release, without prejudice to the government's making a future request for detention, on behalf of Appellant Douglass Mackey, It is further ordered that this appeal is expedited....

Special Counsel Jack Smith hunted information on X users who liked or retweeted posts published by former President Donald Trump, according to redacted search warrants and other documents released Monday.According to the heavily redacted document issued to then-Twitter in January, the court ordered the social media giant to forfeit a bevy of information regarding Trump’s account, including “advertising information, including advertising IDs, ad activity, and ad topic preferences,” as well as IP addresses “used to create, login, and use the account” and privacy and account settings. The warrant also demanded information such as Trump’s search history, direct messages, and “content...

A whistleblower has come forward with an explosive new trove of documents, rivaling or exceeding the Twitter Files and Facebook Files in scale and importance. They describe the activities of an “anti-disinformation” group called the Cyber Threat Intelligence League, or CTIL, that officially began as the volunteer project of data scientists and defense and intelligence veterans but whose tactics over time appear to have been absorbed into multiple official projects, including those of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The CTI League documents offer the missing link answers to key questions not addressed in the Twitter Files and Facebook Files....

'What I don’t like is anonymous Russians and Chinese and Iranians having' it, Haley told CNBC ... Nikki Haley was asked to explain her earlier remarks about social media companies on Wednesday and said that while she didn't mind "anonymous American" free speech, she didn't support anonymous free speech for actors in Russia, Iran and China. During an appearance on Fox News on Tuesday, Haley said every person on social media should be "verified by their name." Haley, who was fiercely criticized by fellow Republican candidates for the idea, joined the hosts of CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday and was...

... The former president wasted little time in reopening attacks on Judge Engoron, calling his actions "Radical and Unprecedented". "His Ridiculous and Unconstitutional Gag Order, not allowing me to defend myself against him and his politically biased and out of control, Trump Hating Clerk, who is sinking him and his Court to new levels of LOW, is a disgrace," the 77-year-old wrote in a lengthy post on social media.

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley called for an end to anonymity on social media during a television appearance on Nov. 14. “Every person on social media should be verified by their name,” the 2024 presidential hopeful said while fielding questions from voters on Fox News’s “The Faulkner Focus,” hosted by Harris Faulkner. “First of all, it’s a national security threat. When you do that, all of a sudden, people have to stand by what they say. And it gets rid of the Russian bots, the Iranian bots, and the Chinese bots. And then you’re going to get some civility, when...

Former President Donald Trump on Monday tested a gag order imposed on him by a Washington, D.C., judge by saying those prosecuting him in a federal case involving alleged attempts to subvert the 2020 election will end up in a "mental institution" with "Trump Derangement Syndrome." U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan of the District of Columbia on Oct. 29 reimposed the gag order on Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, prohibiting him from publicly criticizing prosecutors and likely witnesses in the case, as well as members of the court's staff. Trump has said the gag order...

Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Brendan Carr is calling the Biden administration's "digital equity" plan for all internet services and infrastructure an "unlawful power grab." Biden’s plan hands the Administrative State effective control of all Internet services and infrastructure in the country. Never before, in the roughly 40-year history of the public Internet, has the FCC (or any federal agency for that matter) claimed this degree of control over it. Indeed, Biden’s plan calls for the FCC to apply a far-reaching set of government controls that the agency has not applied to any technology in the modern era, including Title II...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court temporarily lifted a gag order on Donald Trump in his 2020 election interference case in Washington on Friday — the latest twist in the legal fight over the restrictions on the former president’s speech. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision puts a hold on the limited gag order to give the judges time to consider Trump’s request for a longer pause on the restrictions while his appeals play out. The appeals court said the temporary pause “should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits”...

Today, President Biden is issuing a landmark Executive Order to ensure that America leads the way in seizing the promise and managing the risks of artificial intelligence (AI). The Executive Order establishes new standards for AI safety and security, protects Americans’ privacy, advances equity and civil rights, stands up for consumers and workers, promotes innovation and competition, advances American leadership around the world, and more. As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s comprehensive strategy for responsible innovation, the Executive Order builds on previous actions the President has taken, including work that led to voluntary commitments from 15 leading companies to drive...

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Donald Trump’s election interference case, threw the former president a lifeline during a late Sunday filing. Newsweek reported that Chutkan turned away a request from the Department of Justice to put Trump in jail for violating a gag order she re-imposed on him. In a footnote reinstating the gag order, the judge denied federal prosecutors’ request to incorporate her order into the conditions of Trump’s release. “Even assuming that request is procedurally proper, the court concludes that granting it is not necessary to effectively enforce the order at this time,” she wrote....

Public school teachers may soon be allowed to wear jewelry or clothing bearing a religious emblem or symbol while on the job. The Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Monday voted 201-1 to approve a Senate-passed bill that repeals a section of the state’s school code that penalized a teacher for such religious displays and held the school board liable if they failed to enforce that mandate from 1949. The bill now goes to Gov. Josh Shapiro for enactment. The governor is expected to sign it once it reaches his desk, said his spokesman Manuel Bonder. Once enacted, the law take...

The Colorado School district that wanted to ban a student from wearing a Gadsden Flag patch on his bookbag is now the target of a federal lawsuit for its handling of the situation. In August, Jaiden Rodriguez came under fire at the Vanguard School, part of Harrison School District 2 in Colorado Springs, when the school banned the flag patch before relenting as it became the focus of national attention... a video made the rounds of social media showing Jaiden’s mother explaining the history of the Revolutionary War flag to a school official who had believed the yellow flag with...

As reported earlier – Far left Judge Tanya Chutkan imposed another gag order on Donald Trump on Obama- appointed Judge Tanya Chutkan placed a gag order on President Donald Trump, the leading presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential election, earlier this month. This is complete lawlessness. Even the far-left ACLU later filed a brief arguing the that an overly-broad gag order imposed on Donald J. Trump in an ongoing election interference case violates the First Amendment. Chutkan’s initial gag order on Trump was worse than we thought. According to Chutkan’s gag order, Trump cannot criticize Special Counsel Jack Smith or...

The reason you have not heard of a gag order on par with the one imposed on former President Trump is that it is highly unusual. Normally, in a criminal proceeding, there are no gag orders. To the extent they exist, they typically only bind the lawyers, who are admonished to adhere to the rules of professional conduct. Rarely—as in almost never—are criminal defendants forced into a gag order on such spurious grounds as they might “vilify and implicitly encourage violence against public servants who are simply doing their jobs.”In fact, precedent almost uniformly emphasizes familiar First Amendment principles, which...

The White House on Monday pushed back on hardline Republican demands to deport foreigners who joined pro-Palestinian protests, warning the proposals would not pass First Amendment protections on free speech. Republican 2024 hopefuls are competing to see who can be toughest on demonstrators backing the Palestinian cause after Hamas terrorists killed 1400 people on October 7. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for example, said pro-Hamas demonstrators should have their visas canceled. John Kirby, White House national security spokesman, was asked about sending home people who support the Palestinian cause. 'I would just tell you, you don't have to agree with every...

The war between Israel and Hamas continues to spark debate in the United States and other countries as people express their opinions on the conflict. In New Jersey, a billboard denouncing Hamas was taken down.The sign, which was put up by a Jewish organization named JewBelong, was removed after law enforcement received over 100 complaints. Situated on Route 80 in Bergen County, the billboard's message did not mince words: “Oh, don’t be naïve. Hamas would chop your head off too.”This anti-Hamas billboard on Route 80 in Bogota Borough resulted in more than 100 calls to police before it was taken...

A panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Oct. 18 struck down lawsuits challenging a Nasdaq stock market rule requiring companies listed on the exchange to have "diverse" directors on their boards or explain why they don't. In a lengthy opinion, the appeals court rejected lawsuits seeking to block the rule by the National Center for Public Policy Research and the Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment, a group formed by conservative legal activist Edward Blum. The rule at the center of the lawsuit was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in August 2021.

This week, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan overseeing United States v. Donald Trump issued a gag order prohibiting a leading presidential candidate, Donald Trump, from engaging in speech aimed at “government staff,” among others, during his trial. Listen, I understand the disdain some conservatives feel for the former president. I share the sentiment. But if you’re cheering on a judge who’s inhibiting political speech on rickety grounds, you’re no friend of the “democracy” or the Constitution. “Mr. Trump may still vigorously seek public support as a presidential candidate, debate policies and people related to that candidacy, criticize the current...