Free Republic

We know that Facebook censored people throughout the pandemic. We know that if the Biden administration asked them to censor people, the social media giant did it.. This isn't groundbreaking news. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said he regrets that the company did it, which is fine except that it could be argued that it constituted election interference. After all, a lot of the people who reported being censored were shut down because of their pro-Donald Trump rhetoric. The same is true for those who report being throttled on the platform. But Zuckerberg said that's over. He said he regrets it...

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) is calling on Big Tech to censor alleged election misinformation, conveniently ignoring his own history of propagating the debunked Trump-Russia collusion narrative. Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff is now demanding that major tech companies take aggressive action to combat the spread of so-called “misinformation” and “disinformation” ahead of the 2024 election. However, Schiff’s sudden concern about election integrity rings hollow given his prominent role in spreading one of the most damaging political conspiracy theories in recent memory — the Trump-Russia collusion hoax. In a letter sent this week to the CEOs of Meta, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok,...

To many on the left, America’s First Amendment seems to be a hurdle to overcome because it stands in the way of their radical agenda. But in reality, the First Amendment is a gift to help keep us free. John Kerry told the World Economic Forum recently that he sees the First Amendment as a roadblock to progress. Kerry intoned, “I think the anguish over social media is just growing…It’s part of our problem, particularly in democracies in terms of building consensus around any issue.

Kamala Harris would not be born for another six years when, in 1958, the Supreme Court of the United States issued one of the first of a series of decisions at the heart of the civil rights movement, the case of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama. The NAACP, a New York nonprofit corporation, had taken the lead in fighting for the civil rights of black people in Alabama, specifically in support of its chapter in Montgomery, along with other local groups (Women’s Political Council) and leaders (the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph...

From today's decision by Judge John Mendez (E.D. Cal.) in Kohls v. Bonta: Plaintiff Christopher Kohls (aka "Mr. Reagan") is an individual who creates digital content about political figures. His videos contain demonstrably false information that include sounds or visuals that are significantly edited or digitally generated using artificial intelligence …. Plaintiff's videos are considered by him to be parody or satire. In response to videos posted by Plaintiff parodying presidential candidate Kamala Harris and other AI generated "deepfakes," the California legislature enacted AB 2839. AB 2839, according to Plaintiff, would allow any political candidate, election official, the Secretary of...

From Matt Taibbi: So let me pause to say something about America’s current intellectual class from which the anti-disinformation complex works. By the way, there are no working class censors. The dirty secret of content moderation all over the world is that it’s a tiny sliver of educated rich correcting everybody else. It’s telling people what fork to use, but you can get a degree in it, basically. The problem is America has the most useless aristocrats in history. Even the French dandies who were marched to the razor by the Jacobins were towering specimens of humanity compared to the...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump “resorted to crimes” in a failed bid to cling to power after losing the 2020 election, federal prosecutors said in a newly unsealed court filing that argues that the former president is not entitled to immunity from prosecution. The filing was unsealed Wednesday. It was submitted by special counsel Jack Smith’s team following a Supreme Court opinion that conferred broad immunity on former presidents and narrowed the scope of the prosecution. This is a developing story. Please check back for more updates.

by el gato maloIf ever there were a contest to find the living avatar of the phrase “the clothes have no emperor,” I’d pick John Kerry and pit him against all comers. I’m not sure there is an emptier suit in all the Beltway. It’s like someone did a gain-of-function experiment on patrician stupidity and entitlement, slapped a politician haircut on top, jolted the neck bolts to life, and sent it tottering down the hill towards some unsuspecting heiress. But such people are often useful, as they go to forums like the WEF and dazzle the Davos devotees with endless...

Tyranny results, and there are too many indicators out there of a totalitarian police state in our midst. It's an unfortunate reality that millions of Americans lack convictions founded in logic, reason, and history, instead relying on feelings as their primary touchstone. They seek out misinformation sources that aligns with their emotional needs, codifying deep divisions in their political leanings. The Kamaa Harris campaign's minimal information tactic reveals another divide we have glossed over too much: how to make sense of the information available. The Harris campaign is mining a vein they call 'joy,' which I call disinformation, curated especially...

In the years before the Civil War, slaveholders were the greatest threat to free speech in the United States. White Southerners used state laws, a congressional gag rule, suppression of the mail, and physical violence to silence abolitionist speech because they believed it was dangerous. In 1830, for example, Louisiana penalized anyone using “language in any public discourse, from the bar, the bench, the stage, the pulpit, or in any place whatsoever,” as well as “in private discourses or conversations,” that had “a tendency to produce discontent among the free colored population of this State, or to incite insubordination among...

Democrats have been ramping up the rhetoric, not just about eliminating Donald Trump and MAGA, but about getting rid of the Constitution itself. The first two Amendments of the Constitution are constantly attacked by the left, followed closely by the Electoral College. Your right to speak, to defend yourself, and for people outside New York, California, and deep Blue urban areas to be represented are all under attack. The latest example of this fact is John Kerry, Special Envoy for the President for the Climate (yes, John Kerry is the Earth's representative according to the Biden/Harris administration), bemoaning the fact...

During the Sustainable Development Impact Meeting held by the World Economic Forum (WEF), John Kerry brazenly admitted that first amendment is a threat to government power. During the discussion, Kerry stated that free speech, particularly on social media, threatens ‘democracies’ by inhibiting the government’s ability to manufacture a consensus through the control of information. ”…I think the dislike like of and anguish over social media is just growing and growing and growing, and that’s part of our problem particularly in democracies — in terms of building consensus around any issue, its really hard to govern today.” He goes on to...

The “real weapon against tyranny is free speech,” actor, comedian, and author of the new book You Can Do It!: Speak Your Mind, America, Rob Schneider, said during an interview on Breitbart News Saturday. “The idea … really, is there seems to be a contraction of free speech, and it’s happening, whereas even the government has been proved that they’re violating Americans’ First Amendment rights, you know. Thank God for Elon Musk, who exposed what happened to Twitter,” he said, touching on the collusion between tech companies and the U.S. government. They were working, he continued, to “silence Americans who...

Joe Rogan shared an ominous prediction about the state of free speech if Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz win the November election, arguing the Democratic ticket poses a grave threat to the First Amendment. Rogan offered his thoughts on the troubling trend of censorship in the US in a conversation with former Navy Seal, ex-CIA contractor and podcaster Shawn Ryan in an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” released Thursday. “I don’t think it turns around if Kamala Harris gets into office,” Rogan said of the censorship trend, “I think they clamp down more.” “I...

Below is my column in the Wall Street Journal on the growing counter-constitutional movement in the United States. This assault on the Constitution is being led by law professors who have lost their faith in the defining principles and institutions of our Republic. Here is the column: Kamala Harris declared in Tuesday’s debate that a vote for her is a vote “to end the approach that is about attacking the foundations of our democracy ’cause you don’t like the outcome.” She was alluding to the 2021 Capitol riot, but she and her party are also attacking the foundations of our...

Millions of dollars were spent to weaponize the public against all of usStory at a Glance:•There has been a coordinated campaign to attack and defame anyone who has spoken out against the COVID-19 response. This has primarily been restricted to social media (e.g., getting people deplatformed) but it has also been weaponized in real life (e.g., getting medical licenses revoked).•This coordinated campaign was the result of a “non-profit” known as The Public Good Project (PGP), which was actually directly linked to the pharmaceutical industry. The PGP used the industry funding it received to defend industry interests.•Vaccine safety advocates were able...

CV NEWS FEED // Legislation establishing 200-meter “protected zones” around abortion clinics in Scotland has officially gone into effect, banning activities such as prayer and protests in these areas as of September 24, according to a report from Glasgow Times. The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill was passed in June, and is “designed to protect women from harassment” according to the Times. It will affect 30 abortion facilities across the country. The bill, introduced by Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) Gillian Mackay, makes it officially “an offence for a person in a safe access zone to act...

Nearly two-thirds of Americans conceal their political opinions on contentious issues in public, according to a new Populace Research/YouGov survey. Most Americans, 58%, said they cannot express their private opinions publicly, and 61% admit to “self-silencing” their political views, according to the survey. At the same time, Americans publicly claim to have higher trust in our institutions than they do in private. Only 36% of Democrats publicly said that they trust the government to tell the truth, but only 5% agreed with the statement in private, according to the survey. Similarly, 42% of Democrats publicly report that they trust the...

A New York woman is seeking $2 million in damages from the New York Mets after she claims that she was barred from entering Citi Field while wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, the New York Post reported Saturday. Aura Moody filed a lawsuit earlier this month after she told the outlet that she had been denied entry into Citi Field on August 14 after a staff member had said she was not allowed in with the hat which had the slogan of former President Donald Trump’s campaign. "This country is supposed to be the beacon of freedom for...

The X account of Elon Musk in seen blocked on a mobile screen in this illustration after Brazil's telecommunications regulator suspended access to Elon Musk's X social network in the country. Can’t stop the signal,” a famous line from the movie “Serenity”, has become something of a catchphase among geeks — meaning that messages of truth cannot be contained. But stopping the signal is exactly what a lot of governments are trying to do these days, with mixed but depressing results. Under Article 19 of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion...