Free Republic

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...

A Brazilian comedian said a judge took issue with his Wikipedia page when she handed down an eight-year prison sentence. Comedian Leo Lins, whose full name is Leonardo de Lima Borges Lins, was about three years removed from his comedy special when Judge Barbara de Lima Iseppi ruled the comedian made "discriminatory" remarks while on stage. The comments the judge made during her ruling have been perceived as "power-hungry" by other comedians, who expressed shock at their compatriot's conviction. Lins' 2022 special "Disturbing," or "Perturbador" in Portuguese, was ordered to be taken down from the internet by the Brazilian government...

British activist Tommy Robinson and his friends were kicked out of a high-end steakhouse in London—not for breaking any rules or causing a disturbance—but because the staff reportedly “felt uncomfortable.” The incident unfolded at the upscale Hawksmoor steakhouse on Air Street, just steps from the prestigious Regent Street in central London, according to The Standard. Robinson was dining peacefully with a group of friends, including former English Defence League spokesman Guramit Singh Kalirai, when the group was approached by management halfway through their meal and asked to leave. Kalirai took to social media to expose the moment, posting a video...

A student in North Carolina just got $20,000 richer. His school district was forced to apologize to him and make the cash payment because he was suspended for using the term ‘illegal alien.’ The left is so triggered by the topic of illegal immigration, that you can’t even use accurate language when talking about the issue without someone going crazy. FOX News reports: North Carolina school district to issue apology, pay $20K to student suspended over ‘illegal alien’ comment. .....Snip...... The teen received a three-day suspension last year after asking his teacher if a conversation in class was centered around...

Standing in a town square, quietly holding a sign, two people were arrested by police Thursday in Brussels, Belgium. The offending message? “Children are never born in the wrong body.” Lois McLatchie Miller, a senior legal communications officer for Alliance Defending Freedom International, and Chris Elston, a Canadian advocate for children who goes by the nickname “Billboard Chris,” said they were in police custody for several hours before having their signs confiscated. According to Elston, they were initially told they were being charged with disturbing the peace, but were eventually let go. The arrest is just the latest instance of...

Judge upholds free speech! Tommy not under arrest. Mahyar Tousi and other alternative media waiting outside courtroom, joking around and relieved. Transcript linked below video.

Attorney General Ken Paxton has successfully stopped an enforcement guidance issued under former President Joe Biden that sought to redefine the definition of “discrimination” to include self-professed “gender identity.” This unlawful rewrite of federal law would have opened private and state employers to lawsuits if they did not adopt sweeping “transgender” inclusive policies. “The Biden Administration unlawfully tried to twist federal law into a tool for advancing radical gender ideology by attempting to force employers to adopt ‘transgender’ policies or risk being sued,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The federal government has no right to force Texans to play along with...

Partisan targeting or legitimate antitrust inquiry?The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is seeking documents from the left-leaning nonprofit Media Matters to determine whether the self-styled watchdog conspired with other organizations to orchestrate illegal advertiser boycotts of conservative news sites in violation of antitrust laws. In 2024, Elon Musk sued the company for allegedly costing his X platform billions of dollars in lost advertising revenue, leading some observers to criticize the current FTC inquiry as a Musk-inspired alliance.What FTC SeeksThe FTC seeks communications between Media Matters and the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) — a cross-industry initiative of the World Federation...

MAGA showed up BIG for FREE SPEECH at the Lakeland Farmers Market after they tried to ban me last week! Featuring the great ‪@AdamFrancisco‬!

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...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear an appeal from a Massachusetts middle school student who was forced to remove a T-shirt that claimed “there are only two genders.” Two conservative justices — Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas — dissented from the decision to not hear the case. So long as the appeals court’s decision remains on the books, Alito wrote, “thousands of students will attend school without the full panoply of First Amendment rights. That alone is worth this court’s attention.” The student, Liam Morrison, wore the shirt to Nichols Middle School in Middleborough, Massachusetts, in 2023 to...

The White House has said it is “monitoring” the case of Lucy Connolly in an escalation of free speech tensions with Sir Keir Starmer. State department officials are examining the treatment of Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councillor, who was jailed for 31 months over a social media post about the Southport attacks. Judges threw out an appeal brought by the 42-year-old last week, meaning she will not be released before August. Campaigners raised her case with Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, as part of a wider effort to challenge what they regard as draconian hate speech...

Free speech and Grooming Gang fighter, Tommy Robinson, has been released from prison. Now the State has charged him with 'causing fear' of two 'journalists' from the Daily Mail, that doxed him and his family while on vacation, for merely naming who doxed him.

The American public is still learning more about the Biden regime’s sinister nature and how it felt about its political opponents. On Friday, DNI Director Tulsi Gabbard declassified documents that revealed that Americans who opposed the draconian and cruel COVID mandates were declared “Domestic Violent Extremists.” Michael Shellenberger’s Public and Catherine Herridge Reports first obtained the newly declassified records. Former FBI agent Steve Friend explained to Public that the designation created an “articulable purpose” for FBI or other government agents to open an “assessment” of individuals, which is often the first step toward a formal investigation. In other words, COVID...

At one time, most Americans (and virtually all academics) would have agreed with the famous saying, often attributed to Voltaire, “While I disagree with what you say, I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Over the last several decades, that has dramatically changed. Many academics now seem to embrace the opposite view—something like, “Since I disagree with what you say, I will do everything possible to silence you.” Is that an exaggeration? You won’t think so after reading Nicholas Wolfinger’s new book, Professors Speak Out: The Truth About Campus Investigations. Wolfinger, a sociology professor at the...

CNN’s Collins: Media Didn’t Help Shut Down Skepticism, Critical Thinking During COVID Video Source: CNN Ian Hanchett23 May 202544 1:10 During a portion of an interview with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that was aired on Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source,” host Kaitlan Collins argued that the media wasn’t involved in shutting down skepticism, critical thinking, and people making their own decisions during the coronavirus pandemic. Towards the end of the interview, Kennedy stated, “I would say be skeptical of authority. My father told me that when I was a young kid, people in authority...

On Thursday afternoon, Judge Irving of the DC Superior Court ordered vexatious litigant Michael E. Mann to pay Mark's co-defendants Competitive Enterprise Institute and Rand Simberg $477,350.80 in attorney's fees - within thirty days. This is related to counts that were dismissed on Anti-SLAPP grounds half-way through the case - one was against CEI for republishing a National Review editorial critical of Mann deemed protected speech and the other against CEI and Rand for "intentional infliction of emotional distress". According to anti-slapp.org: SLAPPs are Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. These damaging suits chill free speech and healthy debate by targeting...

The First Amendment protects most forms of speech. But did you know that there are certain things even the Constitution does not allow? It's true. Here are 11 statements that can get you in trouble with the law: "I disagree with the government." - The First Amendment was not designed to protect speech criticizing our omnipotent rulers. "The government lied to us." - No, they didn't, and you are going to jail. "I kind of enjoy the Disney Star Wars films." - This can actually get you deported, believe it or not. "Baseball is boring." - The Constitution does...

British political prisoner Tommy Robinson is set to be released from prison within the coming week after the High Court reduced his 18-month sentence for contempt of court by four months. Robinson was originally jailed last October for violating a 2021 injunction that prohibited him from repeating allegations against Jamal Hijazi, a Syrian refugee who had previously won a libel case against him. At the time of sentencing, Justice Johnson explained that the prison term included a 14-month “punitive” portion and a four-month “coercive” portion. This week, Robinson appealed to the High Court in an effort to “purge” the coercive...