Free Republic

It seems the climate change hysteria crowd is having trouble convincing people that we are all going to die in a gargantuan fireball if we don’t start driving electric vehicles and eating crickets. To remedy this issue, some progressive senators have concocted a novel idea: Throw people in prison for arguing against left-wing ideas on climate change.Sure, it’s a bit authoritarian, but it would be effective, wouldn’t it?Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders led a gaggle of fellow lawmakers in writing a letter to the Justice Department demanding that it prosecute people in the fossil fuel industry for saying things about climate...

WATCH WHAT SONG DIDN’T GET THE SAME LABEL.. 🤔

Two news directors at a Michigan NBC affiliate were ousted on Thursday following the circulation of an internal memo calling for scaled-back coverage of Pride Month events and directing the station’s journalists to “get both sides” on LGBTQ issues, a source with knowledge of the situation told CNN. The email, sent earlier this month by Stanton Tang, news director of Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV, and Amy Fox, the station’s assistant news director, said the “polarizing” nature of Pride events had upset some of its conservative viewers, CNN previously reported. “We need to recognize that some stories related to LGBTQ issues are...

Our world is becoming a creepier place with each passing day. Most of us just want to live our lives in peace without excessive governmental interference, but unfortunately the control freaks that are running things just can’t help themselves. Ultimately, they aren’t going to be happy until they are able to watch, track, monitor and control virtually everything that we write, say and do. This is one of the big reasons why they are gearing up to introduce “central bank digital currencies” all over the western world. Such digital currencies will make it much easier for them to control us...

A documentary detailing the lives of several individuals who transitioned and then de-transitioned was scrapped by AMC Theatres after pro-transgender activists launched a campaign to stop it from screening. According to the New York Post, AMC canceled showings of the film “No Way Back: The Reality of Gender-Affirming Care” after it “caved” to the demands of a trans group called Queer Trans Project. The 90-minute film was going to be released in select theaters for one day.Laura Becker, one of the detransitioners featured in the documentary, slammed the company’s decision in an interview with Fox News. “I think it’s incredibly...

LANSING, Mich. A Michigan House committee plans to hold a hearing on Tuesday regarding two bills that would amend the penal code and make vaguely defined “hate” speech a felony subject to severe penalties. House Bills 4474 and 4475 state, “A person is guilty of a hate crime if that person intimidates or harasses another individual; causes bodily injury or severe mental anguish to another individual; uses force or violence on another individual; damages, destroys, or defaces any real, personal, digital, or online property of another individual; or threatens, by word or act, to do any of the above described...

The New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs has released a consultation document containing proposed changes to censorship procedures. Read a sobering commentary by the Free Speech Union HERE. The proposals include the appointment of a chief regulator who will be empowered to decide whether online content – including social media posts – is “harmful.” To do so, he will be empowered to make up his own “guidelines” without the input of parliament. The proposals will also allow fines exceeding NZ$200,000 to be levied on those who don’t comply with his ideas. ... What Exactly Will the Regulator’s Draconian Powers Replace?...

Police investigating burning of a Pride flag (4"x6") at an elementary school as a hate crimeNBC News OUT reports that Los Angeles School Police will be providing additional patrols around the elementary school as they continue the ongoing investigation of the burning of a Pride flag at the school.Antonio Planas and Colin Sheeley report:A spokesperson for Los Angeles Police said Wednesday the incident is being investigated as a “vandalism hate crime.”Alan Hamilton, a deputy chief with the LAPD’s Valley Bureau, said in a statement Wednesday that the Pride flag was in a potted plant.“There was a small potted plant that...

Wealthy organizations with a history of backing left-wing causes are partnering with a new worldwide group of researchers to combat online misinformation. The International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE) convened in Washington for its first official meeting on Wednesday, bringing together over 200 researchers from 55 countries to focus on the decline of public comprehension and confidence in science, according to The New York Times. It is partnered with groups such as the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Skoll Foundation, according to its website. Many of IPIE’s backers have a history of bankrolling left-wing groups and...

The Democrat-controlled Senate proposed a new bill to censor and police Americans’ First Amendment rights. Brought forth by Democrat Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), the “Digital Platform Commission Act (DPCA)” would flag misinformation and hate speech on the internet. The bill creates a federal agency to do nothing but the mandate and enforce guardrails against people who spread so-called “misinformation,” giving out consequences for information Democrats deem wrong. The bill would violate the American Constitution. “It’s past time for a thoughtful and comprehensive approach to regulating digital platforms that have amassed extraordinary power over our economy, society, and democracy,” Bennet said....

What constitutes hate speech? According to the United Nations, “hate speech refers to offensive discourse targeting a group or an individual based on inherent characteristics (such as race, religion or gender) and that may threaten social peace.” The UN also says “hate speech is a growing international threat.” What is a hate act? According to California’s new Department of Hate (CA vs Hate), “A hate incident is a hostile expression or action that may be motivated by bias against another person’s actual or perceived identity.”

SUMMARYNewly obtained FOIA documents from America First Legal reveal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to produce training videos that get “bystanders” to intervene against “radicalization” of their peers.​DHS targeted “suburban Moms” with pro-life beliefs and “old high school friends” who believe in “conspiracies” as examples of radicalized citizens in need of bystander intervention.These findings add to the litany of evidence that DHS has shifted its focus from threats of foreign terrorism to monitoring and meddling in domestic US citizen political beliefs.Apparently not content with setting up a Ministry of Truth, an Internet censorship directorate, and even a program for...

Minnesota has been slammed over an 'Orwellian' plan that would mean claiming Covid was leaked from a lab in China would be recorded as a 'hate incident'. State lawmakers want to allow people to report perceived 'bias-related incidents' that fall short of criminal acts. But critics say the bill, introduced in January, is a threat to free speech and effectively creates 'thoughtcrime'.

Minnesota lawmakers are mulling a change to state law, House File 181, that would log alleged bias incidents even when they aren’t considered a crime. The bill, introduced in January, would allow people to report perceived bias-related incidents such as alleged slurs and verbal attacks that would fall outside the hate crimes compiled annually by the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension...

The regime is not pleased. Therefore, Washington State Democrats, led by Gov. Jay Inslee, proposed a new law to root out and smother the opinions, thoughts, and ideas of people who engage in wrong-think, to stop “early signs of radicalization.” And when they find them, to “develop a public health-style response.” Welcome to the Washington State Democrats’ proposed Minority Report Commission, where people drunk with power propose to kill ideas before someone does something “radical,” such as writing their legislators, protesting at school board meetings, disobeying vaccine mandates, refusing to wear masks, or objecting to sexualizing school children. Democrats who...

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch asked Monday whether Colorado baker Jack Phillips was forced to undergo “reeducation” after refusing to bake a cake for a gay wedding. Gorsuch’s question came during oral arguments in the case of 303 Creative v. Elenis. Lorie Smith, who owns 303 Creative and provides graphic and web design services, sued the state in 2016 because she did not want to create wedding websites for same-sex couples, arguing the law violated her First Amendment rights. The case is similar to that of a 2018 case involving baker Jack Phillips, also from Colorado, who refused to make...

"Stochastic terrorism" is the latest front on the Democrats' disinformation war. A few days ago a youth opened fire with an AR-15 in a gay nightclub called Club Q in Colorado Springs, killing five and wounding 25. The shooter was subdued in the club and eventually arrested. This isn’t the killer’s first encounter with law enforcement. He was arrested in June 2021 after threatening to bomb his mother’s house with a homemade device. The Colorado Springs Gazette reported that the district attorney’s office didn't formally charge the shooter, hence he was allowed back into society. Colorado’s Red Flag laws which...

Touted as an overdue (if duplicative) law that no one could disagree with, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act signed by President Biden last week includes a subtle provision that could boost the Biden administration’s war on wrongthink. The bill sailed through the U.S. Senate and the House with ease. The tactful naming made the bill radioactive to oppose, which is why 422 congressmen voted in favor while only three opposed. Rep. Thomas Massie, one of the three who voted against the bill, expressed a handful of concerns, including that there are a limited number of constitutionally specified federal crimes, that...

Facebook parent company Meta has announced it will be implementing a ‘fact checking’ service in its messaging platform WhatsApp, in order to counter so-called ‘fake news’ during the upcoming French presidential election. The move is part of the company’s efforts to tackle so-called ‘fake news’ during the upcoming French presidential election, with the Silicon Valley giant also announcing new anti-disinfo measures for its Instagram and Facebook platforms. Facebook has also promised that it will make “significant efforts to combat the dissemination of false information” on its platforms, saying that it will “remove content” that violates the company’s “Community Standards”, Also...

Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald Instructing journalists to keep away from the police and threatening them with arrest if they don't.Given that the target of the police in this case have the Wrong Ideology, many journalists will be not angry but grateful: Ottawa Police @OttawaPolice All media who are attending the area, please keep a distance and stay out of police operations for your safety. Anyone found within areas undergoing enforcement may be subject to arrest. There will be a media availability later today at 474 Elgin Street. #ottnews