TriggerFinger

Brazil orders seizure of assets from protesters

Gateway Pundit But the corrupt Supreme Court was not finished.

On Thursday the far-left court ordered banks to seize ALL assets and block funds from the millions of protesters participating in the mass democracy protests.

Isn't it interesting that seizing assets was the go-to move in Canada against the truckers, and now in Brazil on a much larger scale?

Categories Free Speech

Thu Nov 24 23:01:27 CST 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Thermoclines, Mandates and the Consent of the Governed

Ombre OlivierAll of that is reasonable. Indeed the first 2 are absolutely praiseworthy and the third is just a common sense recognition that foreign countries have strong motivations to cause dissension in the US. But the step beyond where they go from foreign state entities spreading disinformation to anyone spreading “disinformation” is flat out bad and leads to justified outrage.And that’s exactly where we are today in the US. It isn’t helped by all the other Deep State shenanigans regarding “Orange man bad” and the way that people who should have known better jumped on claiming “Russian disinformation” in cases where there wasn’t any. For now, while a significant fraction of the US “Right” has lost their trust in the DHS (and FBI and so on) and the amber warning lights are flashing all over the place, the Trust Thermocline hasn’t been breached. If (when?) we learn that the censorship has been wider than it currently seems to be the thermocline is going to be breached for a large majority of Republican and independent voters and that’s going to be very messy. Presuming that the Republicans win control of both parts of congress then one thing that they will be able to do is stop funding these bureaucracies. The left and the (p)resident may scream but with the Supreme Court in its current state there seems no doubt that a budget resolution that explicitly removes funding for specific agencies/divisions and activities performed by agencies would be held constitutional by the court.

The trust thermocline was breached somewhere between the moment Durham failed to get any convictions and Biden started talking about needing days to get election results. What the author doewsn't quite process is that the people have yet to have an opportunity to express that in a measurable way. Speech is censored.
Polls are manipulated. Elections are stolen. You can't just unsubscribe from government.

A better concept than a trust thermocline is perhaps the Chinese idea of a mandate of heaven. The western view would be the consent of the governed. The current government can lose it, but that doesn't remove the government from power. Instead, something happens -- wars, economics disaster, revolutions -- to bring down the government that lost the mandate. The people no longer consent to be governed by those in power.

Elections are supposed to be a practical way to measure that, and to peacefully change power. Election fraud does not create a mandate or ensure consent.

Fraud merely removes the peaceful part of the transition mechanism.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Mon Nov 14 22:54:15 CST 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Content moderation at Twitter

Gateway PunditElon Musk’s choice to recruit the far-left Twitter moderation council, which includes individuals who labeled President Trump a Nazi and called to be silenced when he was sitting President of the United States, has left many conservatives disappointed and hopeless about Musk’s takeover.

I believe this is a negotiation. Big Tech recently threatened to deplatform Twitter from the Android and iOS app stores. (Musk's businesses have also come under investigation since he began to prominently side with Republicans). I believe this is Musk's way of saying, look, there will still be content moderation, don't cancel me. But doesn't that render the point of buying the platform moot? Somewhat, sure. But Apple and Google, via the app store, are the real gatekeepers here. Advertisers also play a role.

Categories Free Speech

Fri Nov 04 12:13:22 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Big Tech collusion with Big Government censorship

Conservative TreehouseThere is also a formalized process for government officials to directly flag content on Facebook or Instagram and request that it be throttled or suppressed through a special Facebook portal that requires a government or law enforcement email to use. At the time of writing, the “content request system” at facebook.com/xtakedowns/login is still live. DHS and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, did not respond to a request for comment. The FBI declined to comment.

[…] The extent to which the DHS initiatives affect Americans’ daily social feeds is unclear. During the 2020 election, the government flagged numerous posts as suspicious, many of which were then taken down, documents cited in the Missouri attorney general’s lawsuit disclosed. And a 2021 report by the Election Integrity Partnership at Stanford University found that of nearly 4,800 flagged items, technology platforms took action on 35 percent — either removing, labeling, or soft-blocking speech, meaning the users were only able to view content after bypassing a warning screen. The research was done “in consultation with CISA,” the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Prior to the 2020 election, tech companies including Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Discord, Wikipedia, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Verizon Media met on a monthly basis with the FBI, CISA, and other government representatives. According to NBC News, the meetings were part of an initiative, still ongoing, between the private sector and government to discuss how firms would handle misinformation during the election.

We all suspected this was happening, but now we have proof.

Categories Police Abuse 1st Amendment Free Speech Fair Elections

Fri Nov 04 12:08:46 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Big tech created government censorship portals

TechnofogThe federal government’s guidelines to counter “misinformation” and “disinformation” – what we might more accurately describe as Big Brother’s Playbook – has been released. The US government and its allies, including media gatekeepers and educational institutions and global corporations, have become the judges and juries of “misinformation.”

And Big Tech is their executioner.

According to recently-filed court documents in Missouri v. Biden that were made available by The Intercept (big hat tip to Lee Fang and Ken Klippenstein), “The Department of Homeland Security is quietly broadening its efforts to curb speech it considers dangerous.”

"Curbing speech" is dangerous.

Categories Police Abuse 1st Amendment Civil Rights Free Speech

Wed Nov 02 17:55:40 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Twitter still playing censorship games even after acquisition

Daily SignalTwitter suspended conservative accounts just over one week before the midterm elections, including the account of a Heritage Foundation scholar and the leader of a conservative nonprofit.

“Since the election of Donald Trump, Twitter has aggressively targeted and deplatformed young conservatives,” Denton told The Daily Signal on Monday. “It is no coincidence that just a week from Election Day, the leftists at Twitter executed one of the largest conservative ban-waves in the history of the platform.” (The Daily Signal is the media outlet of The Heritage Foundation.)

“In the middle of the night, Twitter removed conservative political activists and ordinary Americans across the country to further silence conservative voices,” Denton added. “Twitter’s targeting of conservative users this close to Election Day is a deliberate political action. Mass bannings have become standard practice against conservatives on Twitter, and Elon Musk needs to immediately put an end to this.”

Gateway PunditTwitter is playing more tricks ahead of next Tuesday’s General Election. Today, it was reported that Trump-Endorsed Arizona Secretary of State candidate Mark Finchem’s Twitter account was suspended without cause.

These are almozt certainly people expecting to be fired and hoping to have at least some small impact on the election on their way out.

Categories Free Speech

Wed Nov 02 10:30:48 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Paypal's $2500 "fine" for thinking things they don't like is back

Gateway PunditStarting November 3, 2022, PayPal is expanding the existing list of prohibited activities to include the sending, posting, or publication of messages, content, or materials under its Acceptable Use Policy.

“Violation of this Acceptable Use Policy constitutes a violation of the PayPal User Agreement and may subject you to damages, including liquidated damages of $2,500.00 U.S. dollars per violation, which may be debited directly from your PayPal account(s) as outlined in the User Agreement,” said PayPal.

Users will be subject to a financial penalty if they violate the revised policy in any way, including by spreading false information, engaging in discrimination against the LGBTQ community, posing a risk to user safety, and so on.

They are a financial services company who can't be trusted to handle your money. That's not exactly a recipe for success.

Categories Free Speech

Thu Oct 27 21:10:50 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Biden Admin figures to be deposed in censorship case

Just The NewsJudge Terry Doughty on Friday ordered Dr. Anthony Fauci and a host of other Biden administration figures to sit for depositions in a lawsuit pertaining to the government's alleged collusion with media to suppress viewpoints opposed to the government's narrative.

Led by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, the suit alleges that the Biden administration actively worked with social media companies and encouraged them to censor "disfavored" viewpoints and speakers and consequently violated the First Amendment rights of those individuals.

Lots more detail here.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech Fake News Vaccine Mandates

Tue Oct 25 10:23:15 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Terrorizing the school board... via disrespect?

Just The NewsSchool board members reported a police detective to her employer and the U.S. Department of Justice for showing "disrespect," making "over dramatic" comments about COVID-19 school policies and threatening to sue the district if it kept interrupting her at board meetings.

According to the lawyer for Michigan's Chippewa Valley Schools, the elected school board members were just exercising their First Amendment rights as private citizens, and the board had no involvement.

Sandra Hernden filed a First Amendment retaliation lawsuit against the school board and members Frank Bednard and Elizabeth Pyden, seeking to remove qualified immunity from the individual public officials for violating "a clearly defined constitutional right."

This was always a desperate attempt to shut down effective criticism before the midterms.

Categories Police Abuse 1st Amendment Civil Rights Free Speech

Thu Oct 20 22:57:30 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

DHS paying millions to combat "disinformation"

Judicial WatchThe agency created after 9/11 to protect the nation from another terrorist attack is giving nonprofits, local governments, and academic institutions millions of dollars to promote media literacy and combat what the Biden administration considers to be “disinformation.” Among the recipients of the grants awarded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is a center founded by former President Jimmy Carter to implement a “media literacy curriculum” designed to mitigate the harms presented by disinformation. In all, DHS will dole out around $7 million for its new media literacy campaign, which is part of a broader and handsomely funded initiative called Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Program (TVTP) launched in 2020 to “prevent targeted violence and terrorism.”

Yes, that's the Department of Homeland Security paying millions to censor Americans and call their opinions terrorism. And it's not the only time.

Categories Police Abuse 1st Amendment Civil Rights Free Speech

Tue Oct 18 22:06:42 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Judicial Watch files suit over California gov working with Youtube censors

Judicial WatchJudicial Watch announced today that it filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of State of the State of California for having YouTube censor a Judicial Watch election integrity video (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Shirley Weber, in her official capacity as Secretary of State of the State of California (No. 2:22-cv-6894)).

Records show the Office of Elections Cybersecurity communicated with YouTube and/or Google to have Judicial Watch’s video taken down. On September 24, 2020, OEC Social Media Coordinator Akilah Jones emailed “civics-outreach@google.com” and copied four YouTube employees with the subject line, “REPORT VIDEO: **ELECTION INTEGRITY CRISIS** Dirty Voter Rolls, Ballot Harvesting & Mail-in-Voting Risks!”

Note the dates: just a few months before the 2020 election and California was already engaging with Big Tech to censor anything that might cast doubt on an election that hadn't even happened yet.

Makes you wonder if they knew something, doesn't it?

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech Fair Elections Vote Fraud

Thu Oct 13 22:32:02 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Youtube already censoring new elected Prime Minister of Italy

Legal InsurrectionCensoring the incoming Prime Minister of Italy because you don’t like her positions even though the people of Italy did?

The whole point of her speech was that being pro-family, pro-Christian, and pro-country instills in the political class and media a visceral fear. Seems that, at least for now, YouTube has proven her correct.

Censoring the elected leadership of nations with which we are not at war really should be beyond the pale. But then, they already censored the sitting President of the United States, so it is kind of hard to top that.

Categories 1st Amendment Civil Rights Free Speech

Tue Oct 11 22:34:52 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

FBI retaliates against whistleblower

NYPostBombshell allegations by FBI Special Agent Steve Friend contained in a whistleblower complaint filed late Wednesday with the Department of Justice inspector general reveal a politicized Washington, DC, FBI field office cooking the books to exaggerate the threat of domestic terrorism, and using an “overzealous” January 6 investigation to harass conservative Americans and violate their constitutional rights.

Friend, 37, a respected 12-year veteran of the FBI and a SWAT team member, was suspended Monday, stripped of his gun and badge, and escorted out of the FBI field office in Daytona Beach, Fla., after complaining to his supervisors about the violations.

He was declared absent without leave last month for refusing to participate in SWAT raids that he believed violated FBI policy and were a use of excessive force against Jan. 6 subjects accused of misdemeanor offenses.

This American hero, the father of two small children, has blown up his “dream career” because he could not live with his conscience if he continued to be part of what he sees as the unjust persecution of conservative Americans.

The FBI's retaliation is proof enough that his accusations have merit.

Categories Police Abuse Civil Rights Free Speech

Sun Oct 09 23:58:12 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Paypal to fine users for speech it doesn't like

Reclaim The NetPayPal’s clause about taking users’ funds for a violation of its rules has long been established. But, as published on September 26th and to be effective on November 3rd, 2022, PayPal will add restrictions to its acceptable use policy that go beyond illegal activities and fraud and into the realm of policing speech.

The updated policy prohibits users from using PayPal for activities that:

“Involve the sending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials that, in PayPal’s sole discretion, (a) are harmful, obscene, harassing, or objectionable … (e) depict, promote, or incite hatred or discrimination of protected groups or of individuals or groups based on protected characteristics (e.g. race, religion, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, etc.) … (g) are fraudulent, promote misinformation … or (i) are otherwise unfit for publication.”

Big Tech platforms are increasingly finding ways to punish people’s speech under the guise of banning “misinformation,” and making themselves as the arbiters of truth in deciding what is and isn’t true.

It's time to find an alternative to paypal, if you haven't already.

UPDATE: They are claiming it was a mistake. Find alternatives anyway.

UPDATE: Not even a complete walkback.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Sat Oct 08 22:08:12 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Even the Post Office is spying on you

PJMediaThe Washington Times noted that Patrick Eddington of the Cato Institute obtained redacted documents showing that U.S. Postal Service inspectors monitored the mail of some American citizens. The impetus for the move? These people were gun rights activists and had issues with the election of Joe Biden. The office spied on gun activists who attended a gathering in Richmond, Va., what the Times calls “far-right” groups who went to D.C. after Biden’s election, and even those who gathered to protest the shooting of Breonna Taylor. This particular operation also included digital surveillance through the Internet Covert Operations Program. The documents Eddington obtained showed that the operation in question ran from September 2020 to April 2021. There were disclaimers on the reports that stated that the surveillance was not intended to infringe on anyone’s rights but to give law enforcement intel about potential violent or criminal activity. The post office inspector general said that the moves were outside the scope of law enforcement and may not have had legal approval. The inspectors disagreed. In the interim, the Postal Service has agreed to a full review and to make sure that future surveillance is properly authorized.

This is what a totalitarian state looks like.

Categories Police Abuse 1st Amendment Civil Rights Free Speech

Wed Oct 05 10:49:34 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

5th Circuit upholds Texas social media free speech law

Just The NewsA federal appeals court on Friday evening upheld Texas’ social media law, ruling that residents can sue big tech companies for censoring political viewpoints.

The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling that had blocked the law from taking effect.

“Today we reject the idea that corporations have a freewheeling First Amendment right to censor what people say,” Judge Andrew S. Oldham wrote in the majority opinion.

The ruling clears the way for Texans and the Texas Attorney General's office to file lawsuits against Big Tech giants like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook if they take down or censor certain political viewpoints.

This will be way too expensive for Big Tech not to appeal, but they might prefer to wait a while and hope the makeup of the Supreme Court changes.

In the meantime, this is a major victory for free speech by ordinary people.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Tue Oct 04 22:58:14 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Driving gun businesses out of business

The Truth About GunsA federal court case known as Junior Sports Magazines, Inc. et.al. v. Bonta cuts to the heart of the problem. Several plaintiffs including gun rights organizations are challenging changes in state law created by passage of Assembly Bill 2571, which makes it unlawful for any firearm industry members to advertise, market, or arrange for placement of an advertising or marketing communication concerning any firearm-related product in a manner that is designed, intended, or reasonably appears to be attractive to minors. Plaintiffs are asking for a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the law.

The second prong of this anti-gun strategy is legislation enacted to thwart such challenges by financially penalizing anyone — including an attorney or an entire law firm — if they seek declaratory or injunctive relief from any firearms-related California state statute or local ordinance, or even a rule or regulation by making them liable to pay attorney’s fees and costs of the prevailing party.

Simply put, anyone seeking to enjoin a California gun restriction faces the prospect of liability for the state’s attorneys’ fees if the plaintiff does not win on all aspects of the case, even if their case prevails on the merits, settles a claim without a waiver, or voluntarily dismisses any portion of the case for any reason.

This is a pretty transparent attempt to shut down businesses California doesn't like.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Sun Sep 11 23:44:06 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Twitter bans conservative politician on the day before election

Gateway PunditTwitter announced last week it would meddle in the 2022 elections. They weren’t kidding.

And when Twitter says they will meddle that means Twitter will be cracking down on conservatives and free speech.

Twitter has not given an explanation why they have taken down a popular conservative politician’s account.

They are determined to interfere with the 2022 elections.

Categories Free Speech Fair Elections

Sun Sep 04 22:52:36 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

You tube takes down candidate debate video and interview

Gateway PunditThe Thought Police over at YouTube strike again. This time, they attacked the Government Integrity Project in New Hampshire by issuing their channel a warning and REMOVING a debate for the Congressional 1st District in New Hampshire.

YouTube issued a “warning” and took down the entire debate stating it violated their rule by containing content that “advances false claims that widespread fraud, errors, or glitches changed the outcome of the U.S. 2020 presidential election“.

Gateway PunditConservative comedian Steven Crowder was recently suspended by YouTube again over an interview with Trump-Endorsed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake on his viral channel – with over 5.7 million subscribers – due to a potential violation of their “misinformation policy.”

To be clear, YouTube is now taking down videos of primary campaign political debates and interviews with candidates. They would rather voters remain ignorant than know what the various candidates think. Are we expected to vote at random?

Categories Free Speech Fair Elections Fake News

Fri Sep 02 23:22:37 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

More political interference by law enforcement

Legal InsurrectionAttorney General James’ pre-emptive attempt to chill free and lawful speech is extremely troubling, and has nothing to do with support for or opposition to Trump. The Attorney General, with her immense prosecutorial power, should be protecting freedom of speech and association, not taking substantive sides and attempting to intimidate churches or other forums from hosting lawful events.

The New York AG is all about targeting her political opponents.

Categories Police Abuse Civil Rights Free Speech

Wed Aug 31 23:13:54 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Confirmed: police had embedded agents in the Jan 6th crowds

Gateway PunditA new police report that was exclusively obtained by The Epoch Times has proved that “plainclothes” members of a special law enforcement Electronic Surveillance Unit (ESU) were secretly embedded among protesters for the purposes of conducting video surveillance on January 6th.

The newly uncovered report, titled First Amendment Demonstrations, was issued on Jan. 3, 2021 by DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief of Police Robert Contee under the Homeland Security Bureau’s Special Operations Division. It detailed the MPD’s response to the planned MAGA protest, which included specifics about covert operations that occurred on, and leading up to January 6th.

So all that footage will be available to defendants to use in court, right? RIGHT?

Categories Police Abuse 1st Amendment Civil Rights Free Speech

Wed Aug 03 23:32:35 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

FBI blacklisting conservatives

Behind The BlackBlacklists are back and the Democrats have got ’em: According to numerous whistleblowers talking to the office of Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the FBI has been aggressively blacklisting any employee who happens to express any conservative opinions at all.

Jordan detailed the most recent actions in a June 7th letter [pdf] to Chris Wray, director of the FBI, which was also a follow-up on another such letter sent in May.

They are preparing the ground for an even more politicized FBI, which is absolutely terrifying.

Categories Police Abuse 1st Amendment Free Speech

Thu Jul 21 23:11:46 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

The Democrats have no respect for free speech

Conservative TreehouseFor former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, the current senior climate and energy policy advisor within the White House, all of these ‘in your face‘ surfacing Green New Deal consequences have become problematic for the Biden administration. Her proposed solution, however, is rather remarkable.

In this interview discussing the skyrocketing inflation and consequences created by the Green New Deal policies, Gina McCarthy urgently begs all of the social media companies to start removing the content from American people who are giving real world examples of the pain and economic hardship they are feeling. McCarthy says that if social media do not start to help Joe Biden hide the pain, the climate change agenda might be at risk.

Covid, climate change, election security... somehow the answer is always censorship. Why is that?

Categories Free Speech

Wed Jul 20 23:39:39 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Public-Private partnership

Meaning In HistoryLast night Senator Josh Hawley, a very smart lawyer, went on Tucker Carlson’s show to discuss what he and Senator Chuck Grassley have discovered about the Disinformation Board that the Zhou regime has set up. What they appear to have discovered is a scheme for Department of Homeland Security to partner with private media companies to censor views that the government disagrees with. As I said, Hawley is a very smart lawyer and he understands the First Amendment issues that are at stake:

Twitter and other Big Tech companies would "partner" with government to shut down and censor political opposition.

Categories Police Abuse 1st Amendment Civil Rights Free Speech

Wed Jul 13 22:09:41 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Biden admin trying to shut Navarro up

The Daily Mail via Gateway PunditProsecutors are trying to slap a gag order on Trump adviser Peter Navarro to prevent him creating a ‘carnival atmosphere’ or sharing evidence from a grand jury as he fights charges of contempt of Congress.

He appeared in court on Friday after being arrested.

Immediately afterwards he addressed reporters outside the courthouse and condemned the manner of his arrest. Two Fox News appearance have followed, in which he claimed he was treated like an ‘Al Qaeda terrorist.’

On Wednesday, federal prosecutors said they wanted to provide Navarro – who says he is having trouble finding a legal team – with the grand jury evidence that led to charges so that he could prepare a defense.

But they said his conduct suggested there should be protections to ensure he does not use the material for a media campaign.

This is a transparent attempt to prevent Navarro from defending himself in the court of public opinion. Since the entire January 6th incident is a political witch hunt, Navarro has a 1st Amendment right to respond in public.

Categories 1st Amendment Civil Rights Free Speech

Sun Jul 10 22:15:56 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Contradictions

Michael TracyFew figures on the punditry scene are more adept at getting themselves into comical face-plant scenarios than McFaul — or more useful at highlighting unexamined contradictions of the yammering liberal commentariat. In this instance, McFaul demonstrates why he and likeminded commentators are so steadfastly determined to compartmentalize their positions on foreign policy versus domestic policy. Because it would apparently never even occur to McFaul that there might be some tension between his passionate calls to aggressively curtail gun circulation in the US, and his similarly passionate calls to circulate a giant number of guns in Ukraine.

Read the whole thing...

This happens because the left, at least at the level of the talking head or column byline, has ceased to think or reason at all. This has been pretty obvious for some time; consider the inherent contradictions in the left's pro-abortion choice and anti-vaccine choice policies as another example, or the inability to tell men from women. The key is that thinking is not required; unquestioning distribution of the approved opinion is.

How that opinion actually gets to the approved status is an entirely political calculus that happens in back rooms filled with smoke, billionaires, and German accents.

Once it gets approved, though, everyone must toe the lie and heaven help the hindmost. Instead of rational arguments -- of whcih they are now incapable -- the foot soldiers of the left deploy fact-checkers, disinformation nannies, and twitter cancellation mobs. And these agents are surprisingly successful, forcing even a sitting president off of his chosen social media soapbox during his reelection campaign.

Categories Free Speech Arms Control

Thu Jun 30 22:42:23 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Gun rights protest in Raleigh

Only guns and moneyGiven Sen. Thom Tillis’ (R-NC) role in the GOP capitulation on gun control, Grass Roots North Carolina is holding a peaceful protest outside his Raleigh office on Friday, June 24th. They were able to get Stephen Willeford, the hero of the Sutherland Springs, Texas attack, to attend as the featured speaker. Mr. Willeford is now the National Spokesman for Gun Owners of America.

The event will be from 10am until 1pm outside the Terry Sanford Federal Building in Raleigh.

If you live in the Piedmont or can get to Raleigh on the 24th, please be there. Remember, it is politicians like Tillis who are the reason the GOP is known as “the stupid party”.

It's too late to stop the legislation. They moved fast on this one. Really fast.

Categories Firearms Civil Rights Free Speech Arms Control

Fri Jun 24 08:24:13 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Protest still on in Raleigh at 10AM Friday

Only Guns and MoneyThis is just a reminder. Grass Roots North Carolina will be holding a protest outside the office of Sen. Thom Tillis (D-NC) tomorrow. It starts at 10am and will feature the hero of the Sutherland Springs Stephen Willeford.

If you can be there, be there. Information below is from GRNC

They moved this legislation so quickly there wasn't even time to organize protests. I'm sure that wasn't an accident.

Categories Free Speech Arms Control

Fri Jun 24 00:09:45 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Canada is now an authoritarian state

NYPostTwo decades ago, when I was 4 years old, my parents immigrated to Canada from India in search of greater freedoms, autonomy and economic opportunities. They’re core Canadian values — enshrined in our national anthem, which gloriously heralds “The True North strong and free.”

However, the past two years have seen a near complete erosion of the foundational liberal values that have attracted millions of immigrants like myself to this country.

Under the once-righteous guise of COVID safety and online protections, the Canadian government has taken its power to extreme levels once only imaginable — let alone permissible — in a dissent-stifling authoritarian state.

When even the immigrants notice, it's becoming very obvious.

Categories Civil Rights Free Speech

Thu Jun 16 23:27:38 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

FBI investigated concerned parents as domestic terrorists

EmeraldReps. Jim Jordan and Mike Johnson co-signed a letter to AG Merrick Garland informing him that whistleblowers had confirmed the FBI was actually investigating concerned parents as “domestic terrorists” using a so-called “threat tag” created by the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division.

In addition to the obvious political problems of investigating concerned parents as domestic terrorists, it also contradicts AG Garland's testimony to Congress about this topic.

Categories Police Abuse 1st Amendment Free Speech

Mon Jun 13 23:37:30 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

FBI arrests another political opponent

Just The NewsThe FBI on Thursday arrested Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Kelley was taken into custody and had his home searched in connection with the arrest.

The agency is alleging that Kelley was part of the crowd that shoved past Capitol Police officers during the congressional certification of the 2020 election results. However, the FBI did not find any evidence suggesting Kelley had entered the capitol building.

It happened on the day of the January 6th hearing, in a transparently political piece of show business. This is totalitarianism dictatorship shit.

Categories Police Abuse 1st Amendment Free Speech

Thu Jun 09 23:34:07 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Sundance reveals he(?) was targeted by the Jan 6th committee

Conservative TreehouseThe committee is desperate to find something, anything, that can justify all of the time and expense they have been consuming in the effort. The clock is running out fast and the pressure is building internally. As a target of their investigation, and as a recipient of one of these subpoenas’, I can assure readers of the ridiculousness of the people conducting the investigation fishing expedition. It is nonsense. All of it.

Chilling. Which is, no doubt, the intended result.

Categories Police Abuse 1st Amendment Free Speech

Tue May 31 22:28:08 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Appeals court reinstates Texas law protecting social media users

Gateway PunditA federal appeals court on Wednesday reinstated a Texas law that prohibits social media companies from banning users based on their political views. The law will take effect immediately following the ruling.

Governor Abbott signed the new law last September 9, prohibiting the social media giants from banning users based on their political views and requiring them to produce regular reports of removed content, create a complaint system, and disclose their content regulation procedures, according to Texas Tribune.

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman blocked the law in December after NetChoice and CCIA filed a lawsuit claiming that the law violated their right to free speech under the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. According to Judge Pitman, social media platforms are protected by the First Amendment and have the right to moderate content.

On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a motion to stay to allow Texas to implement the law while the state’s appeal continues.

The Texas law is clearly in the spirit of the First Amendment. The details are more complicated. My take on it is more practical: if a company gets so big as to have effective monopoly status, it's services are treated like common carrier services. The phone company doesn't get to deny service because they don't like you. Neither should Twitter or Facebook.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Sat May 28 22:56:02 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

FBI targeting Project Veritas

Just The NewsThe federal government is weaponizing the law to target a media organization that's critical of the Biden administration, according to the lawyer for a journalist who's been the subject of a sweeping Justice Department investigation.

"The FBI is using the legal system to harass a media company and its journalists who are critical of the current administration and to collect 'evidence' of a non-crime in order to amass a secret file on American journalists," said attorney Paul Calli, who represents investigative journalist and Project Veritas Founder James O'Keefe. "J. Edgar Hoover would be proud."

There is no doubt in my mind that this is another political persecution. Veritas gets targeted because they are one of the very few organizations doing effective investigative reporting.

Categories Police Abuse Civil Rights Free Speech

Wed May 25 22:28:54 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Biden Administration installs censorship regime

Gateway PunditFollowing Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter last week, which was a triumphant victory in the ongoing war over free speech, the Biden Regime announced the creation of a “Disinformation Governance Board” that will be tasked with silencing anything deemed to be misinformation that’s related to homeland security. And, yes. It’s just as dystopian and creepy as it sounds.

It seems obvious that this agency will attempt to impose externally what, previous to Musk's purchase of Twitter, Big Tech was imposing internally.

It also seems obvious that this agency is a gross violation of the 1st Amendment and free speech, but it will likely take time for the courts to process this. If in fact they ever do. Our theoretical majority on the court is slimmer than it appears as Republican justices are apparently inherently untrustworthy, while leftist judges vote in lockstep.

Still, if the Supreme Court rules that a government censorship board is acceptable, we're not living in America anymore.

Categories Police Abuse 1st Amendment Free Speech

Sun May 08 22:48:31 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Judicial Watch sues over DOJ targeting opposition

Epoch TimesJudicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) is being weaponized against opposing voices. Fitton’s group filed a lawsuit against the DOJ recently to get documents connected to the department’s election threat task force, after almost a year of no response to their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Fitton thinks the DOJ has something they don’t want the public to know.

“We want answers about it. And of course, when you don’t give us answers, and you don’t comply with the law that requires that records be turned over, it suggests to me that you got something to hide,” Fitton told the host of EpochTV’s “Facts Matter,” Roman Balmakov, during a recent interview. “So, what are they nervous about, that they don’t want to give to us?”

It takes so long for these lawsuits to produce any results that the elections the DOJ intends to influence are already over.

Categories Police Abuse 1st Amendment Free Speech

Mon May 02 22:34:25 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Government still spying on Project Veritas

Gateway PunditJames O’Keefe on Tuesday revealed the Biden DOJ spied on Project Veritas journalists with sealed search warrants then concealed the communications from a federal judge.

Project Veritas obtained legal documents from Microsoft Corporation revealing the DOJ obtained an extension on two sealed search warrants after a federal judge denied the Department’s efforts to “unsupervised and unfettered access to privileged emails and contacts of eight PV journalists.”

And they are trying to hide it from the judge.

Categories Civil Rights Free Speech

Thu Apr 21 22:54:14 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Legislation to mandate "fact checking"

Just The NewsU.S. lawmakers introduced the Social Media NUDGE Act (S-3608) to "reduce addiction and the amplification of harmful content" through federal research agencies and a regulatory rulemaking process.

The legislation applies to commercial enterprises specializing in user-generated content with more than 20 million monthly active users for most of a 12-month period. They must devise plans for "content-agnostic interventions" and submit them to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for approval.

Some of the proposed interventions are already common, such as Twitter's prompt to users to read links before retweeting them.

While S-3608 never refers to misinformation or false information, it also never defines the "harmful content" it seeks to prevent, allowing its bipartisan cosponsors to give their own spin on what it would accomplish.

They know they can count on the leftists running Big Tech to shut us up, at least in those walled gardens.

Categories 1st Amendment Civil Rights Free Speech

Thu Apr 14 22:35:26 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Threatening posters dox trucker campaign donors

Gateway PunditOn Tuesday, photos surfaced online showing threatening posters that were hung up all over the streets of Ottawa, calling for people to “thank” their “local convoy donators” – presumably in the most aggressive fashion possible.

The poster was titled “Know Thy Neighbor,” and included a list of donors’ names, email addresses, and the amount given.

There were even some Twitter users who reported that the fliers also showed up on the front doors of some of the listed donors’ houses, which is absolutely horrifying – the people who would do this are completely unhinged.

These people don't seem to understand that they ARE the Nazis they are afraid of.

Categories Free Speech

Fri Apr 01 23:37:14 CDT 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Investigation of Jan 6th police beating rules death "Objectively reasonable"

Gateway PunditCapitol Police investigators ruled the beating of unconscious Trump supporter Rosanne Boyland by Capitol Police officers until she died was “objectionably reasonable.”

This is the second murder that day by Capitol Police that was given a pass. Lt. Mike Byrd was exonerated after he shot Trump supporter Ashli Babbit in cold blood inside the US Capitol that day. Investigators did not even interview Byrd before he was exonerated!

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, Officer Lila Morris was filmed beating Rosanne Boyland repeatedly with a stick while she lay on the ground motionless.

There is no way this was objectively reasonable. The woman was exercising her 1st Amendment right to protest peacefully before being knocked unconscious and struck dozens of times while unconconscious and unresisting until she died. Police claim she died of a "drug overdose". Sorry, but police are on video beating her while she is unconscious. That's not reasonable.

What would the left be saying if she was black and this happened at a BLM "protest"?

Categories Police Abuse 1st Amendment Civil Rights Free Speech

Thu Mar 10 22:16:24 CST 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Fact-checkers tied to Pfizer

UncoverDCIn its “Trust Principles,” news organization Thomson Reuters pledges its obligation and commitment to “supply unbiased and reliable news services” to the many outlets it serves. Mr. Jim Smith represents Reuters as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. He is also a Director of Pfizer, Inc., serving on the company’s Board since 2014. Known as James C. Smith at Pfizer, he is a member of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Partnering Against Corruption Initiative and the Forum’s International Business Council. Additionally, he serves on the International Advisory Boards of British American Business and the Atlantic Council.

Interestingly, Thomson Reuters Corp.—a $40 billion international multimedia company—is a significant and growing force in the “fact check” world, with a fact-checking unit based in its editorial department. Partnered with Facebook’s third-party fact-checking program since February 2021, the principal aim of the unit is to “fact-check visual material and claims posted on social media.”

What's the relevant line here from ethics rules? Something about avoiding even the appearance of impropriety?

However, regardless of ethics and financial interest, using "fact checkers" to label, block, censor, limit, ban users, or in any way prevent people from having an honest conversation online is improper. It's not up to Big Tech to be that annoying stranger inserting himself into a conversation between friends and appointing himself the arbiter of facts, the telling everyone else to shut up.

And don't forget, much of this "fact checking" was done at the request of government officials, making it also a 1st Amendment issue.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Sun Feb 27 23:53:59 CST 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Canadian pastor arrested to prevent him from speaking at trucker rally

Gateway PunditArmed policemen arrested Calgary Pastor Artur Pawlowski again at his home on Tuesday before his scheduled appearance at the peaceful Freedom Trucker rally in Milk River to show support at the Freedom Convoy.

According to the police, Pawlowski has committed a ‘mischief offense’ under $5,000.

Pawlowski’s son, Nathaniel, told Ezra Levant of Rebel News that the raid was done by an undercover SWAT.

Take note of the timing. It was clearly intended to prevent the pastor speaking at the trucker rally.

Categories Police Abuse Free Speech

Sun Feb 27 00:35:34 CST 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

NSA admits to violating the 4th Amendment

Conservative TreehouseThis is the 5th straight year where the National Security Agency (NSA) produces a document admitting their metadata capturing system, the system that captures all electronic communication of every single American and puts it into a stored database, is continually used as a research library for unnamed federal agents to scour (without search warrants) for the private documents of American citizens.

At this point, the NSA admission without consequence is simply just another Tuesday, it literally doesn’t even make the headlines anymore.

Trump was, and probably remains, our best chance to fix this. He has been personally bitten by all this in a way that no one else in the political class ever has.

Categories Police Abuse 1st Amendment Civil Rights Free Speech Privacy 4th Amendment Wiretaps Fair Elections Spygate

Sat Feb 26 23:13:12 CST 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Fact-checking or narrative enforcement?

Just The NewsThe fact-checking industry, empowered by the vast resources of social media giants, is under sustained scrutiny amid a possible legal battle among the British Medical Journal, Facebook owner Meta and a contractor it pays to flag purported COVID-19 misinformation.

Facebook stopped some readers from sharing a BMJ investigation of "data integrity" issues in a Pfizer COVID vaccine trial, BMJ editors wrote in an open letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in November. It also slapped "missing context" labels on posts that went through, warning users they could be penalized for sharing the article.

Contractor Lead Stories seemed more interested, however, in promoting guilt by association and policing political views than checking the facts, the journal's editors wrote in a blistering New Statesman op-ed last week.

Narrative-enforcement, of course.

Categories 1st Amendment Civil Rights Free Speech

Fri Feb 25 22:14:57 CST 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Pelosi suggests olympic athletes kowtow to China

Conservative TreehouseThe United States Speaker of the House of Representatives, a Democrat, told the U.S. Olympic athletes today to drop their inherent freedom of speech perspective and comply with the Chinese Communist Party rules.

It seems the viewpoint of the United States being a beacon of freedom has morphed into a situation where the official position of government is to turn off the lights and adhere to the totalitarian state. Quite a remarkable shift in worldview.

It's unAmerican, but Pelosi is an honest politician. Once bought, she stays bought, and the Chinese own her soul. And they know they are safe from criticism.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Wed Feb 23 22:23:31 CST 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Macron violently attacks freedom protesters

Gateway PunditFreedom protesters were expected to converge on Paris on Saturday to protest against the Macron government’s tyrannical vaccine mandates in the country.

Thousands of truckers and tractors were expected to arrive in Paris this weekend from several cities across France.

But Macron had other plans.

The French president cracked down on the protests — beat protesters, fired tear gas inside of restaurants and chased demonstrators down the street.

We are living in totalitarian states.

Categories Police Abuse Free Speech Coronavirus

Mon Feb 21 14:12:10 CST 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Canada freezing bank accounts, confiscating assets over peaceful protest

PowerlineCanada’s Parliament has commenced the debate on Prime Minister Trudeau’s declaration of emergency under Canada’s Emergencies Act. The debate will continue until a confirmation vote is held next Monday under the terms the Act. The National Post is live blogging the thing here.

Canada is now under martial law and looks like it will remain so. The first post on today’s debate — the National Post titles it “Freeland: It is happening” and includes a Twitter video of the statement summarized — gives us a snapshot of the wit and wisdom of the Trudeau government in the person of its deputy prime minister

These measures are incompatible with any society that labels itself free, democratic, or a republic.

They are more appropriate for a People's Democratic Republic, of course, which is international code for a communist dictatorship.

We will find out Monday if Canada's parliament are mice or men.

Categories Police Abuse Civil Rights Confiscation Free Speech

Sat Feb 19 16:53:17 CST 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Canadian government calls freedom terrorism

Conservative Treehouse"Driven by an extreme ideology that would seek to overthrow the existing government and create some kind of parallel structure where they get to make the rules based on untrammeled freedoms."

This sort of rhetoric is the culmination of decades of battleground prep in the media. When "freedom" and "conservative" are defined as "far-right" and "extreme" ideology, the link to terrorism and violence is a very short one.

Since when is freedom "extreme" or "far right"?

Freedom is the birthright of every human being. Governments rarely respect that, even when they claim -- as most do these days -- to receive their mandate from the people.

Categories Police Abuse Civil Rights Free Speech

Sat Feb 19 16:13:18 CST 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Canada faces tyranny

Canada's prime minister, Trudeau, famous for repeatedly and unapologetically wearing blackface, has declared martial law through Canada because he is tired of truckers honking their horns in peaceful protest over his vaccine mandates.

He has enacted travel restrictions and internal checkpoints. He has threatened to seize the children of those protesting peacefully against his rule.

He has stolen donations and frozen bank accounts, resulting in what appears to be a run on Canada's banking system.

He has endorsed the illegal actions of hackers doxxing those who simply contributed a few dollars to a peaceful protest.

He has used political support to determine whether bank accounts are seized or merely frozen, thus penalizing political opinions and support. Even posts on social media can be used to debank people without due process.

The police are moving in and arresting truckers. Threatening to arrest media who report on it.

On Monday, Canada's parliament will either ratify his abuses and doom the nation to tyranny, or reject them and remain a free people.

If you ever wondered, in an idle moment, what you would have done were you a citizen in the Weimar Republic during Hitler's rise to power... you now have the opportunity to find out. Canada has not yet fallen. But the Reichstag is burning.

Categories Police Abuse Civil Rights Property Rights Confiscation Free Speech

Fri Feb 18 10:24:01 CST 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Trudeau freezes bank accounts of protesters and "supporters"

Conservative TreehouseI am carefully reviewing the details of the authorization because according to the public statements by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, they have authorized banks, financial institutions and insurance carriers to suspend the accounts of Canadian citizens based on their social media postings.

Yes, you read that correctly. Support of “blockades and/or occupations” are specifically noted.

Anyone in Canada (individual or business) who supports or “furthers” the Freedom Convoy or Freedom Protest on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or any other social media platform, is a target to have their bank accounts frozen and insurance policies nullified.

If this is allowed to stand then free speech in Canada is dead, and a totalitarian dictatorship has taken power.

Categories Police Abuse Free Speech Coronavirus

Tue Feb 15 07:45:38 CST 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Trudeau invokes never-used Emergency Act against truckers

Conservative TreehouseRather than remove any of the Canadian government restrictions and rules surrounding COVID-19 mandates, media are reporting that at 4:30pm today Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will instead invoke the Emergency Act, formerly the War Powers Act, to take emergency action to quell the ‘Freedom Protests’ taking place in Canada.

This is a rather remarkable development highlighting the severity of the totalitarian mindset behind the governing Liberal party in Canada. The Emergency Act has never before been used.

He's already called them Nazi racists, used police powers to spy on their social media accounts and send police to their homes, attempted to steal $10M of their funding, frozen their bank accounts, taken their food and fuel in below-freezing weather (thus putting their children in danger from the cold), threatened them with arrest, imprisonment, loss of commercial driver's licenses, and $100K in fines.

The truckers have so far responded with remarkably peaceful good grace.

The best response to this provocation might be to just go home, and stay home, for a couple weeks. All the truckers, all at once. No goods moving anywhere in Canada, not because anything is blocked, but because all the truckers are having a nice nap.

Trudeau has chosen, repeatedly and consistently, to threaten and escalate rather than listening to the concerns of the people he claims to represent. He has denied their right to free speech and peaceful protest.

Categories Police Abuse 1st Amendment Civil Rights Free Speech Coronavirus

Mon Feb 14 20:42:03 CST 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

What the truckers want

Bari Weiss & Rupa SubramanyaThe convoy is spearheaded by truckers, but its message of opposition to life under government control has brought onto the icy streets countless, once-voiceless people declaring that they are done being ignored. That the elites—the people who have Zoomed their way through the pandemic—had better start paying attention to the fentanyl overdoses, the suicides, the crime, the despair. Or else.

Read the whole thing.

Categories Free Speech Coronavirus

Sat Feb 12 08:40:05 CST 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Jan 6th Cmt abusing its power

Glenn GreenwaldThis abuse of power is not merely abstract. The Congressional 1/6 Committee has been secretly obtaining private information about American citizens en masse: telephone records, email logs, internet and browsing history, and banking transactions. And it has done so without any limitations or safeguards: no judicial oversight, no need for warrants, no legal limitations of any kind.

Indeed, the committee has been purposely attempting to prevent citizens who are the targets of their investigative orders to have any opportunity to contest the legality of this behavior in court. As we reported in October, the committee sent dozens if not hundreds of subpoenas to telecom companies demanding a wide range of email and other internet records, and — without any legal basis — requested that those companies not only turn over those documents but refrain from notifying their own customers of the request. If the companies were unwilling to comply with this "request,” then the committee requested that they either contact the committee directly or just disregard the request — in other words, the last thing they wanted was to enable one of their targets to learn that they were being investigated because that would enable them to seek a judicial ruling about the legality of the committee's actions.

But now the committee is escalating its aggressive investigative actions. They have begun sending subpoenas to private banks, demanding the banking records of private citizens, and doing so such that either the person never finds out or finds out too late to obtain a judicial order about the legality of the committee's behavior. In one case, they targeted JP Morgan with these subpoenas while knowing that that bank is being represented by former Obama Attorney General Loretta Lynch; Lynch — unsurprisingly — then directed her client not to accommodate any requests from its own customers to ensure they can seek judicial review.

It's not a surprise; ever since the 2012 election, at least, the Democrats have been all about abusing their power to influence elections. Obama started with the IRS, got caught (after he won re-election), and then shifted to a national security agency focus with the CIA, FBI, and DOJ, along with help from the Clinton campaign. He got caught there too, but so far neither Obama nor Clinton have faced any personal consequences. The heavy thumb on the scale in 2016 was not enough, but the effort continued even with Trump in office. In 2020, vote fraud carried the day and Congress got into the political surveillance game.

Categories Police Abuse 1st Amendment Free Speech 4th Amendment

Fri Feb 11 22:33:03 CST 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Spotify caves to the censors

Gateway Pundit“We are working to add a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes a discussion about COVID-19. This advisory will direct listeners to our dedicated COVID-19 Hub, a resource that provides easy access to data-driven facts, up-to-date information as shared by scientists, physicians, academics and public health authorities around the world, as well as links to trusted sources. This new effort to combat misinformation will roll out to countries around the world in the coming days. To our knowledge, this content advisory is the first of its kind by a major podcast platform.” CEO Daniel Ek said in a statement.

Last week Biden’s Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy called for Rogan’s show to be censored.

A warning label from "fact checkers" is where Facebook and Twitter started.

The problem isn't "misinformation" from people like Joe Rogan, who brings on real experts and lets them talk. The problem is that the "official sources" are not trusted because they are not worthy of trust. Their lies have been tested against reality and exposed as such. People are looking elsewhere for truth.

You can't convince people of something by telling them to shut up.

Categories Free Speech Coronavirus

Thu Feb 10 23:28:19 CST 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Why is the postal service spying on us?

Judicial WatchMonths after Judicial Watch sued the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) for information about a secret program that tracks and collects Americans’ social media posts, more of the agency’s controversial spy mechanisms are being exposed. The newly uncovered tools are sophisticated hacking devices that can breach cell phones and the USPS’s law enforcement arm, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), has utilized them hundreds of times in the last few years, according to a news story that cites USPIS data buried in a lengthy agency report. The questionable surveillance schemes appear to indicate that the government is weaponizing the nation’s postal service to improperly spy on the citizens who fund it.

This seems way outside of the intended role of the postal service. Is there any federal agency that doesn't have some sort of spying and surveillance program?

Categories Police Abuse 1st Amendment Free Speech

Tue Feb 01 22:38:34 CST 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Well, this is amusing...

Youtube demonitizes Bongino for saying masks don't work ... as the CDC admits masks don't work.

Note the First Amendment tag on this one. The Biden Administration very recently demanded in very strong terms that online social media platforms crack down on "misinformation" about COVID.

The government, and their very deep pockets, are now a potential defendant in a First Amendment lawsuit. In addition to Youtube and their very deep pockets.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Sun Jan 16 22:39:49 CST 2022 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Finally someone is prosecuting Antifa

Just The NewsProsecutors allege the antifa members used pepper spray, small flag poles, sticks, and other items — including their fists — to attack the crowd at a pro-Trump "Patriot March" in Pacific Beach in January.

"Video evidence analysis shows that overwhelmingly the violence in this incident was perpetrated by the Antifa affiliates and was not a mutual fray with both sides crossing out of lawful First Amendment expression into riot and violence," said the office of San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan in a press release.

Some of those on the left are fond of claiming clashes at marches are "mutual combat" rather than leftist violence.

Categories Free Speech

Sat Dec 18 22:42:21 CST 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

German court rules against YouTube censorship

Gateway PunditGerman actors expressed their thoughts and feelings about the China coronavirus on YouTube, unfortunately, YouTube didn’t like their thoughts and so they were censored. But the courts in Germany decided that YouTube is not the purveyor of truth and mandated no more censorship from YouTube.

Even Germany is starting to reject YouTube censorship.

Categories Free Speech

Thu Nov 04 22:35:54 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Facebook "whistleblower" is just a political operative

Free BeaconThe Facebook whistleblower who revealed herself in a 60 Minutes interview is getting strategic communications guidance from a top Democratic operative, according to a source with direct knowledge of the relationship, which was confirmed by another half-dozen sources with indirect knowledge of the partnership.In Haugen's public testimony, industry and political insiders see a sophisticated communications campaign intended to put Facebook on defense, from a steady trickle of leaked internal documents that fueled a Wall Street Journal investigative series dubbed "The Facebook Files" to the blockbuster 60 Minutes interview to congressional testimony scheduled to begin Tuesday. Haugen on Sunday also debuted a slick personal website in part to field media requests.

"It does have the appearance of being an incredibly well-orchestrated communications campaign," said the GOP operative Kevin McLaughlin, the former director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

It's a campaign to increase censorship of opposition viewpoints from "oppressive" to "totalitarian".

Categories Free Speech

Sat Oct 23 22:13:50 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Cancel culture

Bari WeissI am a professor who just had a prestigious public science lecture at MIT cancelled because of an outrage mob on Twitter. My crime? Arguing for academic evaluations based on academic merit. This is the story of how a cancellation is carried out, why it should worry all of us, and what we can do to stop this dangerous trend.

The left is working hard to create a totalitarian state where only their opinions are legitimate. And they appear to be succeeding.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Sun Oct 17 22:02:47 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Trump sues Twitter

The HillFormer President Trump is asking a Florida federal judge to force Twitter to restore his account.

Trump’s attorneys on Friday filed a motion for preliminary injunction against Twitter and its CEO Jack Dorsey. The filing states that Twitter had been “coerced” into banning Trump.

“Coerced by members of the United States Congress, operating under an unconstitutional immunity granted by a permissive federal statute, and acting directly with federal officials, Defendant is censoring Plaintiff, a former President of the United States,” the filing reads.

For everyone whining about bitching about how Twitter is a private company, the bit about "acting directly with federal officials" invalidates that defense and means the 1st Amendment absolutely does apply.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech Fair Elections

Sat Oct 16 22:37:20 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

FedGov bribing the media

Granite GrokPoliticians like to use massive dumpster bills to reward supporters. Democrats are just better at it. The Obama bailout was loaded with giveaways, but the latest effort includes something new. Taxpayer handouts to members of the media.

Hidden inside thousands of pages is a little ole’ tax credit “equal to 50% of the salary of each journalist—up to $50,000 per journalist annually.”

In other words, taxpayers, most of whom don’t trust the media, would be backstopping their salaries up to 50,000.00 a year. That’s just below the average annual salary of the average working Americans.

The intended effect is obvious: to co-opt journalists into dependent lapdogs. Frankly it's amazing that the existing media lapdogs aren't considered servile enough.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Fri Oct 08 23:35:28 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Rampant self-censorship on college campuses

Campus ReformA new nation-wide survey found that 80% of students self-censor on their university campuses, with a significant portion feeling intimidated to speak on controversial topics in class or to a professor. A large percentage of students believe that it is acceptable to 'shout down' and silence speakers on campus that hold opposing views.

As a nation, we used to hold the freedom of speech as one of our most cherished virtues. Apparently that is no longer than case.

Categories Free Speech

Tue Oct 05 22:36:55 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Censorship and the cancel campaigns

Daily SignalWhen White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that people who spread “misinformation” “shouldn’t be banned from one platform and not others,” she revealed the left’s chilling plan for censoring content that goes against the left’s narrative.

It is becoming increasingly clear that political leaders on the left and Big Tech are joining arms to not just deplatform dissident voices from social media, but to bar them from the digital space entirely, including from having the ability to make and receive payments online.

In the latest example, Chase Bank reportedly planned to close the credit card account of former national security adviser Michael Flynn on Sept. 18, stating that “continuing the relationship creates possible reputational risk to our company.” While as of Aug. 31, a Chase spokesperson said that they had “made an error and apologized for any inconvenience caused,” the initial gesture can’t be ignored.

The claim that government wasn't involved in these cancel campaigns has been shattered. The Obama administration pioneered the efforts with Operation Chokepoint, which basically tried to get banks and the financial industry to "voluntarily" (under threat by their regulatory agencies) deny service to the gun industry. Now that's been expanded to deny access to social media and any speech or financial platform for, basically, everyone the left doesn't liked on whatever thinly veiled excuse they can come up with. If you're a CEO or a high level corporate officer, better not speak out or you will be hounded out of your job, or have your bank cancel your accounts, or whatever else they can come up with. And in many cases, there's a hidden hand of government applying pressure behind the scenes.

That should violate the 1st Amendment, but if it's kept secret, how would you ever know?

But the government actors are becoming more and more open about their censorship.

It's absolutely clear that we are on the road to a totalitarian society, and we're nearing the destination.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Tue Sep 21 22:26:21 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Texas passes law protecting free speech on social media

UPISept. 10 (UPI) -- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a bill that prohibits large social media companies from banning users over their political opinions, attracting the criticism of free speech activists.

House Bill 20 targets social media companies with more than 50 million monthly users, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and aims to prevent them from banning users over their politics. It also requires the companies to disclose their content management and moderation policies and implement a complaint and appeals process for content they remove.

"Freedom of speech is under attack in Texas," Abbott said Thursday in a recorded statement. "There is a dangerous movement by some social media companies to silence conservative ideals and values. This is wrong and we will not allow it in Texas."

Somehow, that first paragraph was written without irony. "Free-Speech activists" oppose a law that prevents banning users based on their political opinions? The rest of the article is, if anything, worse -- conflating political opinions with obscenity and all the usual boogeymen.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Mon Sep 20 22:24:58 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Sen Warren calls for Amazon to censor books

Red StateIf you were to make a proposal that a politician should go about calling to take down published works, the initial reaction from many would be to recoil and issue a rebuke. The concept of the government seeking to silence select individuals runs contrary to our core beliefs. Yet we have a politician currently calling to take that very action, and the response is so vacant that you have to wonder how far we as a nation have drifted.

Senator Elizabeth Warren has undertaken a cause against Amazon that should deliver a chill instantly, whether you have a Prime membership or not. In the tradition of her party always looking to leverage a crisis, Warren is targeting the monolithic retailer to take action and restrict access to products, in the name of pandemic protections. This does have a veil of propriety in that she mentions concerns with potential counterfeit medical supplies, but then she resorts to overreach as she also wants to restrict published works under the same guise of safety.

It's not about COVID. It's about control.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech Coronavirus

Thu Sep 16 05:22:55 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Australia goes full totalitarian

Gateway PunditThe Australian parliament passed unprecedented legislation that gives federal police near-unrestricted powers to spy on any Australian citizen – by gaining access to their social media and email accounts without their knowledge – if they have been ‘suspected of criminal activity.’

The totalitarian “Identify and Disrupt” bill creates 3 new types of “data disruption” warrants that the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission can use to copy, delete and modify content on individuals online accounts.

Federal authorities will be able to impersonate the account holder and send emails or messages to their online correspondents.

I see zero legitimate use for these new "powers".

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Fri Sep 03 22:47:10 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

School boards feeling the heat

NYPostSchool board members are largely unpaid volunteers, traditionally former educators and parents who step forward to shape school policy, choose a superintendent and review the budget. But a growing number are resigning or questioning their willingness to serve as meetings have devolved into shouting contests between deeply political constituencies over how racial issues are taught, masks in schools, and COVID-19 vaccines and testing requirements.

I do not condone violence, but there's scant actual evidence of violence in this article. Instead, there is evidence that school board members are feeling the heat of an angry and engaged populace over COVID-19 rules and critical race theory.

Keep the pressure on, peacefully. This is what winning looks like.

Categories Free Speech Education

Wed Sep 01 23:53:50 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Big Tech silencing grieving mothers of dead heroes

Conservative TreehouseThis example of Big Tech censorship shows just how weak and pathetic the Biden administration and their Big Tech sycophants really are. As the mother of fallen marine hero Kareem Kikoui, killed in the terrorist attack at Kabul airport, share her opinion of Joe Biden and the administration, the social media platforms suspend her accounts.

Mrs Shana Chappell is furious at the Biden administration, and now that we know the military was aware of the pending attack before it took place – the horrific event is even worse. Mrs. Chappell’s voice cries out in anger and grief. The incompetence and failed leadership in the Afghan withdrawal led to the death of her son, Kareem Nikoui. Her Facebook and Instagram accounts have now been suspended.

Which obscure rule did this woman violate in order to get banned?

None.

She violated the real but unwritten rule: do not criticism the Democrats.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Wed Sep 01 22:53:50 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Biden Admin directing Big Tech censorship efforts on COVID

It's one thing for Big Tech to decide, on their own, to "fact check" and suppress free speech on a topic. I believe that to be improper, but legally difficult to challenge. Most legal protections for free speech are based around government being the bad actor, with the infamous section 230 of the Communications Decency Act being an outlier. That section extends immunity from lawsuit to companies that decide to be "platforms" for user speech, as distinct from companies that are making editorial decisions about what to publish.

I believe that Big Tech has definitely stepped over the line into making editorial decisions, thus removing those legal protections. Cases are moving through the courts that will likely decide that.

But, it appears another front has just been opened. In separate situations, Big Tech appears to have colluded with Big Government (both the Biden Administration after the election and state government officials before the election) in censoring topics and specific posts that government officials requested be censored.

They are even asking for cross-platform censorship based on those government requests.

Legal InsurrectionPSAKI: “You shouldn’t be banned from one platform and not others if you — for providing misinformation out there, taking faster action against harmful post. As you all know, information travels quite quickly. If it’s up there for days and days and days, when people see it, you know there’s — it’s hard to put that back in a box. And of course promoting algorithms. I don’t know how they work but they all do know how they work. So, those are some of the steps that we think could be constructive for public health, for public information, for public — you know, the right of the public to know.”

They are putting action behind their words by seeking to get cell phone providers to read and censor your text messaging.

This will likely prove to be a dramatic mistake, as now the full force of the 1st Amendment protections against government censorship can be brought to bear.

In a nation that once considered freedom of speech a founding principle, the demands for censorship from the current regime are breathtaking.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech Coronavirus

Thu Aug 05 23:27:57 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Mailchimp deplatforms Sidney Powell

Gateway PunditSidney Powell: Mail Chimp just de-platformed my law firm last emails from SidneyPowell.com because apparently we were talking about defending the republic.

We used to value free speech as a civil right, even if we disagreed with it. Apparently, not anymore.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Sun Jul 25 23:02:00 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Democrats want to fact-check your cell phone text messages

Conservative TreehouseYes, you read that correctly. Fact checking your SMS text messages through your carrier, your cell phone or internet provider.

This is a rather remarkable escalation in totalitarian censorship instruction. Not only will Big Tech social media networks (Google, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter) censor, delete, and look into any content placed in their “private sector” domain, but the implication is now that AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, T-Mobile etc. etc. will deploy monitors and fact-checkers to control what you are allowed to say in text messages to your friends and family.

I think this is a significant escalation from fact-checking public posts on social media, and even from doing that in direct/private messages on social media platforms. Cell phone messaging predates most of the internet services messaging capabilities and is generally viewed as significantly more private. If this is implemented, suddenly the Democrats will be inserting themselves into the private conversations of many older and less technically sophisticated Americans who did not previously feel personally impacted by spying and censorship.

I think this will backfire dramatically.

Categories Free Speech

Wed Jul 21 15:17:15 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Modern censorship

Fact-checkers suppress facts about the origin of the Chinese coronavirus. USA Today publishes a young woman's editorial about men competing in women's sports, but censors her use of the word "male" and substitutes their own without notice to her. Twitter blacklists the president of the United States then tells India to respect freedom of expression.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Mon Jun 28 23:14:56 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Facebook censoring "vaccine-hesitant speech"

Conservative TreehouseProject Veritas has revealed some explosive information provided by two Facebook whistleblowers. According to documents and testimony by the insiders, Facebook initiated a program to control the speech of users who were expressing “vaccine hesitancy”, or concerns about the COVID vaccine. Anyone who was concerned about the vaccine was given a “vaccine hesitancy ” score. Unbeknownst to the user, that score was then used to ban, remove or shadow-ban the content.

In essence any speech, sharing of information or comment discussion that is not in alignment with the pro-vaccine narrative is considered adverse to the interests of the Facebook platform. Those users are then targeted to suppress their voice.

When companies like facebook and the media collude to suppress opposition to their favored narrative and policies, they destroy any trust in anything they say or allow to be said. Censorship is counterproductive when your message is true. It's only when your message is false that it becomes necessary.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Fri Jun 25 23:45:16 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Post Office running surveillance on social media posts

Legal InsurrectionLast month, Yahoo News ripped the lid off of a government surveillance program run by a division of the USPS. The program monitors, scans, and collects information on social media postings considered “inflammatory” enough to pass along to other government agencies. It includes posts promoting the coordination and planning of upcoming political demonstrations.

Why on earth is the post office running a political surveillance operation?

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Wed Jun 23 23:49:56 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Twitter sued for defamation over banning Biden's laptop contents

Just The NewsA defamation lawsuit against social media giant Twitter is accusing the company of unevenly enforcing its internal censorship policies depending on the political slant of the content in question.

The lawsuit was filed by Colorado resident John Paul Mac Isaac, a computer repair store owner who last year was thrust into the scrum of the bitter U.S. presidential race as it neared its end in October.

Twitter's blatantly partisan policies appear to be getting it into trouble. They can't hide behind section 230 forever.

Categories Free Speech

Sun Jun 20 23:36:54 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

SPLC involved in political purge of military

Gateway PunditThe article by Ken Klippenstein, writing for the Intercept, describes a new Pentagon “Working Group” comprised largely of left-wing ideologues with a demonstrated bias against conservatives. Unfortunately, Ken’s editors at the Intercept had him focus on only two of the 18 names on the list–Michael Berry and Anat Agron and leave the impression that right-wing extremists have inflitrated the Working Group. But they are the only two with links to conservative groups.

If you take a closer look at the attached list you will see that at least 7 of the 18 members of this “Working Group” are or have been affiliated with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) or the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) or the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). These three groups have a disturbing history.

The SPLC has already thoroughly discredited itself, and any groups associated with them should have no part in anything like this. Not that that matters, since this is a political purge of the US military. Obama purged the officer core and Biden is purging the rank and file. The next step, likely in 2024, will be using the military against the people.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Sat Jun 19 22:50:46 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Online censorship

City JournalAt the end of a recent 800-meter race in Oregon, a high school runner named Maggie Williams got dizzy, passed out, and landed face-first just beyond the finish line. She and her coach blamed her collapse on a deficit of oxygen due to the mask she’d been forced to wear, and state officials responded to the public outcry by easing their requirements for masks during athletic events. But long before the pandemic began, scientists had repeatedly found that wearing a mask could lead to oxygen deprivation. Why had this risk been ignored?

One reason is that a new breed of censors has been stifling scientific debate about masks on social media platforms. When Scott Atlas, a member of the White House’s coronavirus task force, questioned the efficacy of masks last year, Twitter removed his tweet. When eminent scientists from Stanford and Harvard recently told Florida governor Ron DeSantis that children should not be forced to wear masks, YouTube removed their video discussion from its platform. These acts of censorship were widely denounced, but the social media science police remain undeterred, as I discovered when I recently wrote about the harms to children from wearing masks.

It's a glimpse inside the censorship process.

Categories Free Speech Coronavirus

Sun Jun 13 22:54:53 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

MA government told Twitter to delete tweets of Senate candidate

Gateway PunditA federal judge in Massachusetts is going to make Twitter explain whether or not it is a “state actor” or a truly private company, and the effects could be significant in reigning in Big Tech’s oppression of conservative views.

Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai..., ran for US Senate in Massachusetts as a Republican and made allegations of voter fraud on Twitter. These tweets were then deleted by the far-left tech giant. Later it was discovered that they were deleted at the direction of government employees of the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s office.

We've seen recent revelations about California and Iowa officials making similar censorship demands of Big Tech companies. Funny how it's all about private companies exercising their own discretion until you find out the government is giving them instructions.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech Fair Elections

Wed Jun 02 23:49:15 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Police officer investigated for Molon Labe keychain

Conservative Treehouse quoting Bend BulletinA Bend Police Department officer will be investigated for allegedly violating policy by wearing a keychain connected to a far-right group while in uniform on Saturday.

Bend Chief Mike Krantz did not identify the employee, though Cpl. Josh Spano is the officer seen in a photograph circulating on Reddit and Facebook. Attached to the front of Spano’s service vest is an item reading “molon labe” in Greek lettering, a phrase associated with the far-right Three Percenters militia.

The “molon labe” item and its letters appear to be larger than Spano’s name tag on his vest.

The phrase has been associated with the right to keep and bears arms -- not just the three-percenters, which are a more recent development -- since ancient Greece. This whole panic over anyone who believes in America as the Constitution defined it is political bullshit. And no, the right to keep and bear arms is not extremist.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech 2nd Amendment

Tue May 25 22:04:33 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Video released of officers allowing protesters into the Capitol

ZerohedgeOne officer, identified in the video and confirmed by charging documents as Officer Keith Robishaw, appears to tell Chansely’s group they won’t stop them from entering the building. “We’re not against . . . you need to show us . . . no attacking, no assault, remain calm,” Robishaw warns. Chansley and another protestor instruct the crowd to act peacefully. “This has to be peaceful,” Chansley yelled. “We have the right to peacefully assemble.”

The video directly contradicts what government prosecutors allege in a complaint filed January 8 against Chansley: “Robishaw and other officers calmed the protestors somewhat and directed them to leave the area from the same way they had entered. Chansley approached Officer Robishaw and screamed, among other things, that this was their house, and that they were there to take the Capitol, and to get Congressional leaders.”

Chansley later is seen entering the Senate chambers with a police officer behind him; he led several protesters in prayer and sat in Vice President Mike Pence’s chair. (The man in the yellow sweatshirt is William Watson, a drug dealer out on bond. He was arrested in January.)

The police let them in.

Any charges related to trespassing should be immediately dropped.

Any prisoners still being held should be immediately released.

The only person murdered during the protest was Ashli Babbit. She was shot by a police officer without warning while unarmed.

Categories Police Abuse 1st Amendment Jury Nullification Civil Rights Free Speech Constitution Fake News

Mon May 17 09:01:21 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

FL legislation would impose fines for deplatforming

Just The NewsA bill recently passed by the Florida legislature would assess fines as high as $250,000 against social media companies that ban political candidates from their platforms.

The bill — widely seen as a rebuke to tech companies that blacklisted then-President Donald Trump from their servers in the waning days of his administration this year — was passed earlier this week by the Florida House and Senate. It is expected to be signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The same rules should apply to everyone. I understand that the legislature loves to create special rules for politicians, but all Americans have free speech rights.

That said, there was likely a tradeoff between imposing penalties large enough for Big Tech to notice and limiting the people covered by such a law. As far as compromises go, I'm fine with this one.

Categories Free Speech

Mon May 10 22:06:39 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Clarence Thomas outlines the path back to free speech

Gateway Pundit“Today’s digital platforms provide avenues for historically unprecedented amounts of speech, including speech by government actors. Also unprecedented, however, is control of so much speech in the hands of a few private parties,” Thomas wrote. “We will soon have no choice but to address how our legal doctrines apply to highly concentrated, privately owned information infrastructure such as digital platforms.”

Justice Thomas noted that Trump had 89 million followers when he was banned in January, and said that the owners of the platforms have too much power.

“Although both companies are public, one person controls Facebook (Mark Zuckerberg), and just two control Google (Larry Page and Sergey Brin),” Thomas wrote.

Politico reports that “Thomas’ opinion amounts to an invitation to Congress to declare Twitter, Facebook and similar companies ‘common carriers,’ essentially requiring them to host all customers regardless of their views. At the moment, the companies have sweeping authority to take down any post and to suspend or terminate any account.”

Justice Thomas sees clearly.

How many other justices share that vision?

Categories 1st Amendment Supreme Court Free Speech

Mon Apr 12 22:53:39 CDT 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Twitter bans Project Veritas

Sara CarterOn Friday, the Twitter accounts of the conservative journalist group Project Veritas and its founder, James O’Keefe, were suspended. While the group’s account was permanently suspended, O’Keefe’s has been temporarily locked—both for allegedly violating the platform’s private information policy.

This is simply banning effective reporting.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Tue Feb 23 23:22:52 CST 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Disagreeing with Democrats is now incitement to violence...

PJMediaOn Tuesday, Facebook suspended Robert A.J. Gagnon, a prominent Christian scholar on the topic of Bible sexuality, for 7 days. His crime? Speaking out against transgender ideology and President Joe Biden’s new transgender military policy. Facebook claimed that Gagnon’s criticism of this government-imposed ideology violated the platform’s “Community Standards on violence and incitement.”

Ironically, Gagnon’s post drew attention to Facebook’s suspension of his friend, Laurie Higgins, who got a 7-day ban for criticizing Biden’s policy.

“There was absolutely no incitement to violence on our part. We abhor violence done to any person,” Gagnon told PJ Media on Tuesday. “This is just a thinly veiled and pathetic excuse for censorship of any critical views toward trans-tyranny over our consciences, religion, and reason.”

Left unsaid: The violence will come from the Democrats.

Categories 1st Amendment Civil Rights Free Speech

Tue Feb 02 21:05:47 CST 2021 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Youtube censors Senate testimony on the election

Just The NewsJesse Binnall, a Trump campaign attorney who recently spoke at a Senate committee hearing related to 2020 election irregularities, tweeted on Saturday that YouTube had removed his opening statement.

"YouTube has decided that my opening statement in the U.S. [Senate], given under oath and based upon hard evidence, is too dangerous for you to see; they removed it," Binnall tweeted. "To this day, our evidence has never been refuted, only ignored. Why is Google so afraid of the truth?"

Censorship in America. It can happen here. It just did.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Mon Dec 21 13:36:43 CST 2020 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Cuomo openly violates 1st Amendment

NYPostGov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill into law aimed at banning the sale of “hate symbols” such as the Confederate flag or the swastika on state property — even while admitting the new edict might clash with the First Amendment and be struck down as unconstitutional.

As far as the modern Democrat party are concerned, free speech is something to be shut down.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Fri Dec 18 15:09:24 CST 2020 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Twitter continues to censor the President

MSNReplies and likes were disabled on several of Trump's tweets Saturday morning before Twitter the company reversed course hours later, telling Business Insider the change was made "inadvertently."

"Inadvertantly". Hah.

Categories Free Speech

Wed Dec 16 21:49:35 CST 2020 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

The fall of free speech

ZerohedgeWe have previously discussed the alarming rollback on free speech rights in the West, particularly in Europe. The move to criminalize speech has led to an insatiable appetite for new limitations and broader prosecutions. Norway is an example of this headlong plunge into speech controls and crimes in the West. This week the legislature adopted (without even a vote) a new criminal law that punishes people for saying anything deemed hate speech toward transgender people in their own home or private conversations.

Criminalizing speech is a favorite trick of totalitarians, and the left is trending more and more towards totalitarian tyranny. It's not even permitted to protest a stolen election, work in real estate while having politically incorrect discussions in your private life, . And if you don't want to submit, you will be re-educated.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Fri Dec 04 08:00:04 CST 2020 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

American gun owners have a saying...

American ThinkerHere's a serious question. Have we passed that Rubicon in America beyond which it is no longer possible to pretend the American government is legitimately representing the people? I know that question is on a lot of Americans' minds these days, and I think it speaks volumes about our brewing crisis that none of our elected leaders has even attempted to acknowledge, let alone address, the growing unease outside the capital. People are arming up right now in record numbers not because of hunting season; they're buying weapons because their instincts tell them America is on the brink. But if America is on the brink, the D.C. Leviathan seems unsympathetic or unaware. That makes for an awfully dangerous situation.

There are three boxes to which a free man can go when seeking to remain free.

He begins with the soap box -- advocating for retaining his liberty, using the 1st Amendment to protect his ability to speak. The media's bias (especially following the final capitulation of Fox News), combined with Big Tech's censorship of the internet, and pervasive cancel culture, have created a situation where speech is no longer free.

If speech alone is insufficient, he moves to the ballot box, voting for leaders who will correct the situation. While this may not resolve the problem immediately, so long as leaders are chosen by popular vote in free and fair elections there remains hope.

The presidential race in 2020 appears to have demonstrated that the ballot box is no longer free or fair.

That only leaves one box left. Pray we need not open it.

Categories Free Speech 2nd Amendment Fair Elections Vote Fraud

Sun Nov 22 17:45:40 CST 2020 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Facebook fact checkers were in Biden's camp all along

The National PulseThe so-called ‘Bipartisan Policy Center’ – the organization spearheading Facebook’s “voting information center” – honored Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden with awards, and counts every single penny spent by its employees on the 2020 presidential election in support of the former veep.

This will only surprise people who thought Facebook and other Big Tech companies actually wanted to check facts. They didn't. It was always about censorship.

Bias aside, Facebook's censorship policies are notably prone to error.

Categories Free Speech Fair Elections

Sat Nov 21 17:12:58 CST 2020 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Twitter CEO wins election then admits fault

Just The NewsWhen The New York Post, the fourth largest newspaper in the country, wrote a series of articles about a laptop and emails said to belong to Hunter Biden, then-candidate Joe Biden's son, Twitter and Facebook blocked access to them.

On Tuesday, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey admitted that that was wrong.

Note that he says it's wrong after he thinks he's won.

Categories Free Speech Fair Elections BidenGate

Wed Nov 18 05:51:27 CST 2020 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Wikipedia now censoring support for traditional marriage

The problem here is that censoring something like this does not make it go away (as Wikipedia no doubt wishes), it just prevents that opinion from being expressed on a certain platform. It's a thumb on the scales of the overton window, as I saw it described somewhere earlier today; it's not a rational argument, not a discussion, not an explanation, merely a declaration that a certain position is verboten in polite society. Not only does the law not agree with that opinion (any longer, even though this change to millennia of law only happened recently), that opinion can no longer be spoken about at all, thus hampering anyone who disagrees from expressing their disagreement.

This is evil. It is evil in the unique manner of totalitarian technological societies; a minor evil that hurts millions of people just a little bit, and thus hopes to achieve great evil while sliding beneath the notice of those who might oppose it effectively.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Tue Oct 27 17:30:30 CDT 2020 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Twitter "fact-checks" Trump tweets

This is an obvious attempt at influencing the election, and should result in Twitter being denied any protections against suits for those tweets it does not correct or remove, as Twitter has now claimed for itself an editorial role rather than being a content-neutral service provider. Trump has responded with an executive order emphasizing the importance of free speech and declaring that, by stepping back from political neutrality, Twitter has become a publisher making editorial decisions instead of a platform, thus stripping their protections from suit under section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech Vote Fraud

Wed Jun 03 01:23:40 CDT 2020 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Police shoot sleeping man through his own window

... and they did it because of red flag laws. They are also refusing to share their bodycam footage, because of course they are. After all, that footage would expose them as liars who shot and killed a man while he slept peacefully in bed next to his pregnant girlfriend, who they also shot.

The police are keeping the survivors under surveillance and threatening them with arrest if they attend protests.

Everyone involved here needs to go on trial for murder and violation of civil rights. But they won't. Because they are police.

Categories Police Abuse 1st Amendment Firearms Property Rights Libertarian Party Free Speech Constitution 4th Amendment Surveillance 2nd Amendment

Tue May 26 02:15:41 CDT 2020 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Is it time for media control?

BorepatchThe Media is all in for curtailing the our Second Amendment rights. OK, then - maybe we should look at curtailing their First Amendment rights.

After all, this has a better chance of reducing school shootings than any of the gun control proposals that we've heard. And their publications are commercial in nature - they make money on talking up the school shootings, which likely encourages more school shootings - which leads to higher ratings and more money for them. Which is more important: Media profits or children's lives?

After all, we're constantly told that if it saves one kid's life than we should do it, amirite?

Go sign the petition.

I'm not sure if I want to go that far. Any serious attempt at regulating the media would invite regulatory capture immediately, and backfire upon the small, indepedent bloggers and commentators. But to be honest... yes, I do think the media attention given to mass murders that happen at school contributes to them happening again and again and again.

Here's a partial explanation of why.

Categories 1st Amendment Free Speech

Sun May 20 10:12:59 CDT 2018 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

BREAKING: IRS Claims to Have Lost Over 2 Years of Lerner Emails

If you believe this, you'll believe anything:

Today, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) issued the following statement regarding the Internal Revenue Service informing the Committee that they have lost Lois Lerner emails from a period of January 2009 – April 2011. Due to a supposed computer crash, the agency only has Lerner emails to and from other IRS employees during this time frame. The IRS claims it cannot produce emails written only to or from Lerner and outside agencies or groups, such as the White House, Treasury, Department of Justice, FEC, or Democrat offices.

Do the words obstruction of justice ring a bell?

There is no way this was anything other than a completely deliberate attempt to cover up incriminating evidence.

When it was Nixon, they said "It's not the crime, it's the coverup."

Well, this is the coverup.

UPDATE: Congress should subpoena the NSA for Lerner's emails.

UPDATE: We have only one recourse left. We must take the Senate in November, impeach Obama, and remove him from office.

UPDATE: Thanks Saysuncle for the link. Be sure to click "Read More" to see the whole thing if you are on the front page. Also see this video of IRS official testifying to Congress that Lerner's emails were archived and would be produced. Either he lied, or someone lied to him, or someone is lying now. Also note that even Obama supporters are calling for a special prosecutor.

(Read More...)

Categories Free Speech

Fri Jun 13 15:36:04 CDT 2014 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

Major media is paid by government agencies for specific content

Those who have been paying attention have known this was true for some time in the realm of entertainment programming. If you ever wondered why so many children's shows have ham-handed anti-drug messaging, wonder no more: running an anti-drug storyline was good enough to tick a box and get money from the government, so of course everyone did. But a new revelation indicates that a similar situation exists for news programming:

Amber Lyon is an award-winning journalist who worked for CNN. She says while working at CNN she was ordered to report fake stories, delete unfriendly stories adverse to the Obama administration (like the Nick Robertson report), and construct stories in specific manners while working for the left-wing network. Why? According to Lyon CNN is paid by foreign and domestic Government agencies for specific content. [Emphasis added]

They are also paid by foreign governments to not air things, with an example at the link above. I can remember when CNN previously admitted to not reporting the truth from Baghdad while Saddam Hussein was in power.

And other "news" organizations are doing the same; a recent example has the anti-gun Joyce Foundation sponsoring news on gun control in the Minnesota Post, something they have done before.

The line between news, journalism, advertising, and government propaganda has disappeared completely.

UPDATE: Thanks to SaysUncle for the link. It's not that this surprises me, it's that we now have proof.

UPDATE: And From the Barrel of a Gun too.

Categories Free Speech Media Bias

Fri Jun 13 10:46:41 CDT 2014 by TriggerFinger. Comments [Tweet]

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Paypal's $2500 "fine" for thinking things they don't like is back

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Terrorizing the school board... via disrespect?

DHS paying millions to combat "disinformation"

Judicial Watch files suit over California gov working with Youtube censors

Youtube already censoring new elected Prime Minister of Italy

FBI retaliates against whistleblower

Paypal to fine users for speech it doesn't like

Even the Post Office is spying on you

5th Circuit upholds Texas social media free speech law

Driving gun businesses out of business

Twitter bans conservative politician on the day before election

You tube takes down candidate debate video and interview

More political interference by law enforcement

Confirmed: police had embedded agents in the Jan 6th crowds

FBI blacklisting conservatives

The Democrats have no respect for free speech

Public-Private partnership

Biden admin trying to shut Navarro up

Contradictions

Gun rights protest in Raleigh

Protest still on in Raleigh at 10AM Friday

Canada is now an authoritarian state

FBI investigated concerned parents as domestic terrorists

FBI arrests another political opponent

Sundance reveals he(?) was targeted by the Jan 6th committee

Appeals court reinstates Texas law protecting social media users

FBI targeting Project Veritas

Biden Administration installs censorship regime

Judicial Watch sues over DOJ targeting opposition

Government still spying on Project Veritas

Legislation to mandate "fact checking"

Threatening posters dox trucker campaign donors

Investigation of Jan 6th police beating rules death "Objectively reasonable"

Fact-checkers tied to Pfizer

Canadian pastor arrested to prevent him from speaking at trucker rally

NSA admits to violating the 4th Amendment

Fact-checking or narrative enforcement?

Pelosi suggests olympic athletes kowtow to China

Macron violently attacks freedom protesters

Canada freezing bank accounts, confiscating assets over peaceful protest

Canadian government calls freedom terrorism

Canada faces tyranny

Trudeau freezes bank accounts of protesters and "supporters"

Trudeau invokes never-used Emergency Act against truckers

What the truckers want

Jan 6th Cmt abusing its power

Spotify caves to the censors

Why is the postal service spying on us?

Well, this is amusing...

Finally someone is prosecuting Antifa

German court rules against YouTube censorship

Facebook "whistleblower" is just a political operative

Cancel culture

Trump sues Twitter

FedGov bribing the media

Rampant self-censorship on college campuses

Censorship and the cancel campaigns

Texas passes law protecting free speech on social media

Sen Warren calls for Amazon to censor books

Australia goes full totalitarian

School boards feeling the heat

Big Tech silencing grieving mothers of dead heroes

Biden Admin directing Big Tech censorship efforts on COVID

Mailchimp deplatforms Sidney Powell

Democrats want to fact-check your cell phone text messages

Modern censorship

Facebook censoring "vaccine-hesitant speech"

Post Office running surveillance on social media posts

Twitter sued for defamation over banning Biden's laptop contents