Free Republic

How did harmful content and misinformation online get so bad — after so much time, money, and scores of people trying to limit the spread of inaccurate, violent, obscene, and harmful content? For starters, the problem is much bigger than it used to be, and human-driven efforts cannot keep up. Even with tens of thousands tackling the problem (Meta’s Trust & Safety team has swelled to an army of more than 40,000) the sheer amount of digital content is too overwhelming. Moderating this content by human review is not only time-consuming, ineffective, and error-prone, it also can endanger the mental...

"This is already war": Commissioner says online platforms drove citizens out onto the streets during the May 2021 Arab-Jewish riots Israel Police commissioner Kobi Shabtai said that in any future outbreaks of severe civil unrest, social media platforms should be shut down in order to halt the spread of violence. Shabtai asserted in an interview that during Arab-Jewish violence in May 2021, social media platforms helped drive civilians to the streets to participate in riots, and that closing them down for a limited period is a necessary step despite democratic norms. "I am of the opinion that in such circumstances,...

Tom Jones at the Florida-based Poynter Institute -- touted by Johnny Dollar as a "Stelter press agent" -- has penned a deeply disturbed piece headlined "CNN ‘hewing toward the center’ is not necessarily good for our democracy: Pushing for fairness and completeness in journalism is never a bad idea. But presenting 'both sides' sometimes can be." Jones was attempting to shame the Chicago Tribune for an editorial touting this purported CNN move to the center -- which sorely lacks evidence so far, other than dismissing a few flagrantly opinionated staffers like Stelter and John Harwood. Jones sounds like a press...

The Justice Department has hit the Eagle Forum of Alabama with a voluminous subpoena that violates the organization’s First Amendment rights to speak freely, engage in the political process, and talk to their elected representatives. It’s an intimidation tactic, pure and simple, and shows just how partisan the department has become. This out-of-control behavior should scare every citizen and volunteer organization, no matter where they stand on the political or social spectrum. Eagle Forum is a very small non-profit in Alabama. It only has one full-time employee and a second, part-time employee. Virtually all of its work on issues of...

On August 9, The Gateway Pundit posted an article on a planned demonstration outside the FBI headquarters in Washington DC to protest the “out of control FBI.” The protest was organized by Special Ops Veteran Adam Hardage who said he sees his current mission clear as day; Defending America against Tyranny. TGP later updated the report that the protest was canceled due to the possibility of bad actors and unpredictable actions of law enforcement agencies. The article received hundreds of responses from patriots, 892 people in total. The FBI also flagged a comment posted by a commenter at The Gateway...

After nearly two years of lobbying by representatives of the nation’s largest, wealthiest, and most pro-censorship media companies, after being killed in the House and then revived in the Senate, the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) is (temporarily) dead again — killed by its champion, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), because Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) successfully added an amendment that would prevent media companies and tech companies from colluding on content moderation.The core concept of the JCPA is allowing media companies to form a legal cartel in the U.S., for the sole purpose of negotiating with tech giants for special...

A military band canceled its appearance at the annual “Carolina Celebration of Liberty” concert because it was held at a church. The 246th Army Band of the South Carolina National Guard removed itself from the annual celebration held in June at the First Baptist Church in Columbia. The decision was made after they were ordered to cease and desist by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a national organization that gets triggered by the Holy Bible and the Baby Jesus.

oogle is blocking Truth Social, former President Donald Trump’s social media network, from its app store due to concerns over its content moderation policy. Trump started the app after Twitter banned him over his comments related to the Capitol Riots on Jan. 6, 2021, and Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes said the app was ready for the Google Play app store and pending approval last week. However, the company is requiring Truth Social to enforce stricter content moderation before it can be made available on Google Play, a Google spokesperson told the Hill. “On August 19 we notified Truth Social...

In her recent guest essay in the New York Times, former Times reporter and columnist Linda Greenhouse accuses Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito of weaponizing religious liberty. In reality, Alito merely issued a plea that religious liberty is provided “special protection” promised by the Constitution. It appears Greenhouse actually believes religious liberty should be relegated to a lower tier status than other rights. Doing so would do serious damage to our Constitution and to the fundamental rights millions of Americans enjoy under its protection. To support her claims, Greenhouse takes aim squarely at the role religious liberty plays in America,...

On April 19, 2018, the California State Assembly approved Bill AB 2943. According to this bill, the Church can no longer preach or teach that homosexuality is wrong and cannot try to correct that behavior. Many are concerned about the ramifications of this. Even psychotherapy for gender dysphoria is against this law. One astute Facebook user commented, "editing the Bible would be the next logical step." The California Assembly, by a vote of 50-18, approved this bill, telling churches and other institutions that uphold traditional beliefs that if they advocated their views about gender and sexual orientation, they could get...

Twitchy US NEWS MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT CARTOONS Premium Content My Account × Search twitchy.com.... John Hayward shares KICK-A*S thread about NOT giving in even a little bit to censorship and the importance of free speech (BOOM) Posted at 2:17 pm on August 15, 2022 by Sam Janney John Hayward just gets it. Seriously. This guy could write a thread on how to poach an egg and he’d find a way to inspire us to poach ALL THE EGGS and do it in a way that will save America. Seriously. Just add this thread about the importance of free speech and fighting...

During Monday’s transmission of MSNBC‘s “The Beat With Ari Melber,” the host touched on last week’s Alex Jones Sandy Hook lawsuit verdict that resulted in a jury issuing a $50 million fine against the Infowars founder. Melber’s segment explained the precedent set by the Jones trial will now be used to take out other media personalities and outlets countering establishment narratives, which will be a death blow to the First Amendment. “This is actually a larger warning for other liars and conspiracy theorists in our society and our politics,” the MSNBC host said. “It’s a rebuke and a punishment that...

Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 @JackPosobiec They are using Alex Jones to go after freedom of speech. If you don’t speak out against this, you will be next 7:38 PM · Aug 5, 2022

In sports, biology has been substantially replaced by “gender.” Therefore, in women’s athletics, players may participate by way of identity.But what if one’s identity is conventionally Christian?Such a question came up this weekend in North Carolina. Concerning uniforms, the state’s National Women’s Soccer League franchise made an ideological choice. Friday night was “Pride Night,” and the Courage’s attire was made to match.A shirt-showing team tweet announced, “Thank you to @TheFreshMarket for supporting us on Pride Night…and for your valued partnership with the club!”Our prematch and warmup tops today 💙🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Thank you to @TheFreshMarket for supporting us on Pride Night (and always)...

A former Southwest Airlines flight attendant who was fired after conflicting with her union president over abortion won a $5.1 million jury verdict against the airline and the union, the The Associated Press reported. Charlene Carter could collect $4.15 million from Southwest and $950,000 from Local 556 of the Transport Workers Union, mostly in punitive damages, the AP reported. The verdict came in federal district court in Dallas last week. The Southwest flight attendant alleged she was fired in March, 2017, after complaining to the union president about flight attendants from Southwest going to a women's march in Washington, D.C....

A group of 68 journalists sent a rare protest letter to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Thursday asking that President Biden’s staff abandon a mysterious pre-screening process and reopen large events to all journalists. TV correspondents, famed veteran reporters and leaders of the White House Correspondents’ Association rallied behind the call to end year-old restrictions on venues such as the East Room that in past administrations were “open press.” Biden aides have refused to tell the Correspondents’ Association the selection criteria for presidential events and individual reporters have received an array of conflicting explanations, resulting in a widespread belief...

The Supreme Court has ruled 6 to 3 that Coach Joseph Kennedy had the First Amendment right to pray privately at a public high school football game (Kennedy had notably been fired for exercising his First Amendment rights). This was a huge win in the pro-free speech and pro-religious-freedom columns. SCOTUS sides with a high school football coach in a First Amendment case about prayer at the 50-yard-line. In a 6-3 ruling, SCOTUS says the public school district violated the coach's free speech and free exercise rights when it barred him from praying on the field after games. — SCOTUSblog...

he Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a Washington school district violated the First Amendment rights of a high school football coach when he lost his job for praying on the field after games.

Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. "The Court holds that both the free exercise and free speech clauses protect Kennedy's right to pray at midfield following high school football games." https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21-418_i425.pdf

Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm indicated that President Biden has considered using the Defense Production Act to help mitigate the record-high gas prices, but stressed that it is just "one" of the tools at the president’s disposal. "President Biden, like all other leaders around the world, are grappling with this for their citizens," Granholm said Wednesday at a White House press briefing. "And the president is doing everything he can to reduce prices for American families." The price for gas nationwide has exceeded $5 a gallon for the first time since AAA started recording prices in 2000. The average price jumped...