Free Republic

While we see media going to all kinds of Orwellian lengths to defend the failures of Joe Biden, the opposite side of the coin is how much media will spin reality to attack Republicans. Now, we’ve seen bias when it comes to media. But the Washington Post’s Jen Rubin exceeds bias and moves right into outright lunacy with this mad rant at Republicans. First, she falsely claims that the Republican Party has been endorsing violence. But then she gets to the meat of what she wants to say — that the media has to have “rules” for how they treat...

Hide your classic rock LP’s. The thought police at the New York Times are coming for them. The New York Times opinion section has run a column advocating for classic rock songs like Don McLean’s “American Pie” to be reconsidered and maybe even “toppled” like historic Confederate statues, arguing that reevaluating beloved songs will help create a world that is “inclusive and more just.” Other rock singers ripe for cancellation include Eric Clapton, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and even Elvis Presley. Jennifer Finney Boylan, who is a male-to-female transgender, laid out the case in the op-ed titled “Should Classic...

While some may think we’re living more of an Animal Farm existence (pigs hatch a coup and overthrow the humans, only to end up in worse shape thanks to a dictator named Napoleon who uses propaganda to obscure his incompetence), Sarah A. Downey – operating partner at Accomplice VC (and Dune fan, gamer and cosplayer) has assembled a comprehensive Twitter thread on why we’re actually living in Orwell’s other notable work – 1984, a cautionary tale of life under communism. Presented for your edification (and click here or scroll to the bottom for Downey’s July 2020 interview with Benjamin Boyce...

The Bluest Eye. To Kill A Mockingbird. The Hate U Give. Stamped. George. What do these books have in common? Yes, they’re classics—and future classics. But they’re also some of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2020. Join One World on Wednesday, September 29 at 8:00 PM ET on Zoom for a special Ideas & Action virtual event where we investigate—and celebrate—Banned Books Week, the freedom of ideas, and the necessity and power of even the most discomforting truths. Hosted by Chris Jackson, publisher and editor-in-chief, and co-sponsored by the American Library Association, Ideas & Action: Banned Books will...

French-speaking schools in the Canadian province of Ontario removed almost 5,000 books and burned some of them in a “flame purification ceremony” to appease the local indigenous population, Radio Canada and the National Post reported. A video prepared for students of some of the 30 schools on the subject said, “We bury the ashes of racism, discrimination and stereotypes in the hope that we will grow up in an inclusive country where all can live in prosperity and security.” Lyne Cosette, a spokeswoman for the publicly funded francophone Catholic schools of Ontario, told the National Post newspaper, “Symbolically, some books...

CDC moving the goalposts again by changing definitions. Here is the current CDC web definition of vaccination: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/imz-basics.htm Here is the side by side comparison which shows what used to be the definition: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E-o09owXsAIKQOz?format=jpg&name=large

At what point does an ostensibly free country cease to be a liberal democracy? Wherever you choose to draw that line, we can all rest assured that Australia has not just passed it, but done a double back-flip over it while shooting double birds in the air.I’ve written previously about some of the wildly authoritarian scenes emanating from Down Under, including police abuse and the government keeping people essentially locked in their homes for all but one hour a day (measures vary among Australia’s six states).But if you challenge tyranny to one-up itself, it usually delivers. That’s the case in...

A lot to learn from this movie.

Seventy-five years ago, in August 1946, George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” was published in the United States. It was a huge success, with over a half-million copies sold in its first year. “Animal Farm” was followed three years later by an even bigger success: Orwell’s dystopian novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four.”In the years since, Orwell’s writing has left an indelible mark on American thought and culture. Sales of “Animal Farm” and “Nineteen Eighty-Four” jumped in 2013 after the whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked confidential National Security Agency documents. And “Nineteen Eighty-Four” rose to the top of Amazon’s best-sellers list after Donald Trump’s Presidential Inauguration...

In honor of George Owell’s birthday yesterday, here’s a selection of our favorite quotes about freedom of speech, political correctness, and the First Amendment. “Political correctness is tyranny; just tyranny with manners.” – Charlton Heston “Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it.” – Mark Twain “The right to speak freely does not include the right to be taken seriously. And it certainly doesn't include the obligation that others must supply you with a platform.” – Johan Norberg “Those who call for censorship in the name of the oppressed ought to...

Massachusetts state officials recently announced the launch of the “voluntary” MassNotify app, which monitors the spread of COVID-19 in the state. The only problem is the app appears to be installing itself on residents’ and their kids’ smartphones, unbeknownst to users, and without their consent. The news creates a disturbing new dimension to privacy laws and even private property concerns as hundreds of users have reported their Android phones have had the app surreptitiously installed, without their prior knowledge. “Thank you MA/Google for silently installing #MassNotify on my phone without consent. But I have a request: Can you also silently...

Facebook created the Oversight Board to help solve its most difficult content moderation decisions. But though the body is often referred to as “Facebook’s Supreme Court,” Facebook executives have suggested that some of their peers could one day benefit from the board’s services, too. In a 2019 letter outlining “Facebook’s commitment to the Oversight Board,” Mark Zuckerberg hinted that the board’s purview could one day extend beyond just Facebook. “We expect the board will only hear a small number of cases at first, but over time we hope it will expand its scope and potentially include more companies across the...

George Orwell’s dystopian vision written in his book “Nineteen Eighty-Four” could become a reality by 2024 as artificial intelligence technology becomes the all-seeing eye, a top Microsoft executive warned Thursday. Microsoft President Brad Smith told BBC’s Panorama George Orwell’s 1984 “could come to pass in 2024” if government regulation doesn’t protect the public against intrusive artificial intelligence surveillance. “I’m constantly reminded of George Orwell’s lessons in his book ‘1984.’ You know the fundamental story … was about a government who could see everything that everyone did and hear everything that everyone said all the time,” Smith said on BBC while...

I think all the quotes in it are here/now unfortunately to EXTREME DETRIMENT(S), etc.

Glenn Kirschner, an analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, wants every business in America to sign on to the statement that "The 2020 presidential election was free and fair, and produced accurate, reliable results." If they don't he promises to "publish their names and addresses so their customers can take appropriate action to run them out of business." Kirschner says he "won't accept the excuse of ignorance. Its not a question of what they know. Obviously, they are not in a position to know one way or the other. They didn't scrutinize the ballots, check for IDs, or verify whether...

Hackers breached Verkada and accessed its customers' security cameras, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. They gained access to 150,000 cameras inside places such as Tesla, Cloudflare, hospitals, and jails. Some cameras let the hackers access Verkada customers' separate corporate networks.

Orwellian Media Phrase: “Legally Registered” A phrase commonly found in news articles about self-defense with a firearm is “legally registered”. It is a bizarre phrase because the requirement to register guns is quite rare in the United States. In an article published on 21 February 2021, concerning an incident in Pennsylvania, bold added:“Because if he was getting into my house, I probably would have done the same thing if I had a gun,” neighbor Robert Gonzalez said. “I’m just going to do things a lot safer, look out for myself. Make sure whoever comes, got a look, look at his...

A voting technology company is suing Fox News, three of its top hosts and two former lawyers for Donald Trump – Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell – for $2.7bn. The lawsuit charges that the defendants conspired to spread false claims that the company helped “steal” the US presidential election, which was in fact fairly won by Joe Biden. The 285-page complaint filed on Thursday in New York state court by Florida-based Smartmatic USA is one of the largest libel suits ever undertaken. Dominion Voting Systems sues Giuliani for $1.3bn over baseless election claims Read more On 25 January, a rival...

The totalitarian novel is a relatively new genre. In fact, the word “totalitarian” did not exist before the 20th century. The older word for the worst possible form of government is “tyranny”—a word Aristotle defined as the rule of one person, or of a small group of people, in their own interests and according to their will. Totalitarianism was unknown to Aristotle, because it is a form of government that only became possible after the emergence of modern science and technology. The old word “science” comes from a Latin word meaning “to know.” The new word “technology” comes from a...

I'm still very new to this site and do hope that I've posted this properly. A friend sent me this link to Orwell's final interview. I hadn't ever seen it. Orwell's words resonate with our contemporary experience now, more than ever.