Free Republic

Noxious language online is causing real-world violence. What can we do about it?

Free speech is under attack by the Big Tech monopolies that dominate the internet. The flogging that Beto O’Rourke received during his Reddit “ask me anything” session this month perfectly underscored the distinction between a mainstream media and a genuinely free press. He gave Americans a chance to grill him about his pivot from a centrist Senate candidate to a radical presidential hopeful, and in contrast to the handling he has gotten from the media, they treated him like hamburger meat. No surprise there. Free expression can be edgy, brutal, irreverent, and sometimes downright offensive. I should know. My father...

President Donald Trump used part of his speech before the United Nations Tuesday to warn of the growing accumulation of power by big tech companies. In one of the President’s strongest statements on social media bias yet, Trump argued that social media censorship is incompatible with a free society. He also drew attention to the growing trend of censorship, “canceling,” and blacklisting in general. “We must always be skeptical of those who want conformity and control,” said the President. “Even in free nations, we see alarming signs and new challenges to liberty.” “A small number of social media platforms are...

The phrase “social credit system” or “social credit score” is relatively unknown to Americans. But in the People’s Republic of China, the communist government has been developing such a system for the last decade, and are looking to roll it out nationwide by 2020. The Chinese government intends to use social media data, surveillance, and purchasing trends to develop a “score” for its citizens to gauge their “buy-in” to the state. Presumably, the better the score, the more “benefits” citizens are entitled to receive from the government. Conversely, a bad score would severely handicap your life, punishing you for your...

 in the middle of the night I would do the same. Her daughter must be retarded to think that a surprise visit in the middle of the night is acceptable. Useing the word retarded in a negative way is unacceptable. I have little brothers who are autistic, with all the words available please expand you're vocabulary but remove that word. It's 2019 and I'd like to think we are better then this Really? the word simply means slower than, which by definition such individuals are. I am sorry that autism has struck your family so hard. But I will not...

Free speech is often the first casualty of political polarization. There are two competing American tribes that have an immense amount in common. They both loathe mass shootings and grieve for lives lost. They both propose plans to protect innocent life. They both seek to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals. Yes, they have profound differences, but their motivations and intentions are remarkably similar. Moreover, America is designed from the ground up so that citizens of good will can hash out their competing ideas through political and cultural argument. if ( "undefined" !== typeof googletag && !...

President Trump deserves enormous credit for his exceptional commitment to free speech at the G7 summit in Biarritz, France. Foreign leaders, like our own illiberal, liberal activists, are chomping at the bit to introduce ever more online censorship. At the G7, European leaders introduced a measure that would have drafted tech companies into the role of government censors, forcing them to police online content and remove anything that bureaucrats deem to be insensitive. Emmanuel Macron struggled in vain to conceal his disappointment as he announced that the United States had refused to sign on to his pet G7 compact, which...

---- The question of what exactly we are meant to do now – other than get rich and have fun – was going to have to be answered by something. The answer that has presented itself in recent years has been to live in a permanent state of outrage. To find meaning by waging constant war against anybody who seems to be on the wrong side of a question to which the answer has only just been altered. ---- The interpretation of the world through the lens of ‘social justice’ and ‘identity group politics’ is probably the most audacious and...

Video at link: ....“And Media outlets that give room to such criticism of migration can be shut down.” “The compact for migration is legalization of mass migration “

I am the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, whose account Twitter locked because it tweeted a link to a Daily News article that I wrote about Twitter locking my personal account. Twitter informs me that the account was locked because the News article contains quotes from the New Zealand mass killer, and New Zealand and Australia have laws against sharing the manifestos of shooters.

As the 2019-2020 school year begins this fall, millions of high schoolers and college students will be heading into an academic rife with politicization and heated classroom discussions. But, how do students truly feel about issues such as socialism, free speech, health care, and illegal immigration? Do these kids aged 13-22, known as Gen Z, feel comfortable sharing their true opinions? Do they even know the basic concepts of what they are discussing? To find out, Young America's Foundation, "the nation’s premier organization for inspiring students on high school and college campuses with conservative ideas," teamed up with Echelon Insights...

This is the event that Eventbrite backed out of after a protest from CAIR. The courageous Young Republican Club of NYC and the Women's National Republican Club went on with the event anyway and it was a smashing success. The "protest" outside was a distinct failure. Some members of FR provided security for Pamela's event at Ground Zero back in the day, the protest that helped to prevent a mosque being built on the site of the World Trade Center destruction.

Sharia UK: Police hunting for man who made a rude joke to a Muslim AUG 17, 2019 4:00 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER Note Tell MAMA’s headline: they claim that this man made a “racist slur” against a Muslim. What race is Islam again? In reality, there are Muslims, and Islamic jihadis, of all races. But TellMAMA wants to intimidate Britons into believing that anyone who makes a rude quip to a Muslim is a racist, and thus deserving to have the book thrown at him. But that’s all this was: a quip. Say anything you want: the guy was rude,...

As Americans, we speak our minds. It’s the quintessential American quality. Freedom of expression is so foundational to our liberty that it is enshrined in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. We must never take our freedom of speech for granted. Today, 243 years after our nation’s founding, educational institutions, originally created to foster and promote freedom of thought and freedom of conscience, are now actively suppressing first freedoms in the name of political correctness. In a sudden Orwellian twist, students across the country are now discovering that it’s not only acceptable, but morally praiseworthy to use intimidation,...

A Christian realtor in Virginia is suing the state real estate board after it charged her with violating fair housing laws by putting the Bible verse John 3:16 on her website, and using phrases like "Jesus loves you" in her email signatures. This began when the Virginia Real Estate Board filed a complaint against realtor Hadassah Carter, saying that because she's using religious speech, she could make someone feel discriminated against. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) has filed a lawsuit on Carter's behalf, charging the state board with violating her First Amendment rights and calling this "an...

Following complaints from the public over the past couple of years, the UK Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has implemented new rules for television and print advertising. The purpose of these regulations is to eliminate “harmful gender stereotyping” in ads. If that phrase leaves you scratching your head, don’t worry. You’re not alone.In any event, the first two “harmful” ads have been banned from the airwaves. They were from Volkswagen and Philadelphia cream cheese. So what were they depicting? Child abuse? Violence against women? Racism? Nope. One was a shot of a woman sitting in the park next to a baby...

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- When the press stops rolling at The Vindicator this month, a lingering question will once again taunt the residents of the Mahoning Valley: How much collapse can one region take? The family-owned newspaper announced in June -- just days after celebrating its 150th anniversary -- that it is permanently ceasing production on Aug. 31. Started in 1869 just months after Ulysses S. Grant was sworn into office, it has been run by the descendants of William F. Maag ever since he purchased it midway through Grover Cleveland's first term. The closure will cost 144 employees and 250...

Once again, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington needs to be sued. In order to do that, there must be at least one presently enrolled student willing to step up and challenge a Student Affairs division that appears to be consistently violating state law – and also intentionally chilling constitutionally-protected speech. Since the state law at issue is fairly new, some background information is in order.In 2017, the North Carolina legislature passed a free speech bill called HB527. I helped work on the bill along with its sponsor, Representative Chris Millis. There were a number of goals in passing...

Previously, while listening on phone, heard very sympathetic interviews with Tommy, both prior to sentencing with crowd roaring outside, and from visiting Canadian journo while he is in jail. Now unavailable, for reasons I can't fathom. So here's the video of the demo, belatedly.

Search for “climate change” on YouTube and before long you’ll likely find a video that denies it exists. In fact, when it comes to shaping the online conversation around climate change, a new study suggests that deniers and conspiracy theorists might hold an edge over those believing in science. Researchers found evidence that most YouTube videos relating to climate change oppose the scientific consensus that it’s primarily caused by human activities. The study highlights the key role of social media use in the spread of scientific misinformation. And it suggests scientists and those who support them need to be more...