Category Archives: Freedom of Speech and of the Press

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The Patriot Front March for Life The left wax apoplectic!

My Twitter feed was filled with images of the Patriot Front marching at Fridays March for Life in Washington, DC. Much of it was condemnatory, and a lot of conservatives were repeating the meme that these were “Feds,” by which they meant federal law enforcement officers, rather than real civilians. I can see, at least in appearance, why people might conclude that. Robert Stacy McCain addressed that issue in “Is the ‘Patriot Front’ a Fed PsyOp?” He cited the very liberal Southern Poverty Law Center, a group which hates all things conservative, normal, and moral, telling us:

Like other hate and extremist groups, the need to recruit and grow their members makes PF a target for antifascist activists who attempt to infiltrate white nationalist groups to expose and disrupt their activities. Since 2018, antifascist activists have infiltrated PF at least five times, which has led to journalist and activist networks obtaining thousands of documents, including internal chat logs, audio and video recordings, and photographs. The laxed operational security measures of PF that are responsible for these infiltrations led to the identification of more than 130 current and former members since 2019.

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When family members play heroes of the Soviet Union

Pavel Trofimovich Morozov (Па́вел Трофи́мович Моро́зов) was a supposed hero of the Soviet Union:

In 1932, at the age of 13, Morozov reported his father to the political police (GPU). Supposedly, Morozov’s father, Trofim, the chairman of the Gerasimovka Village Soviet, had been “forging documents and selling them to the bandits and enemies of the Soviet State” (as the sentence read). Trofim Morozov was sentenced to ten years in a labour camp, where his sentence was changed to death, which was fulfilled. However, Pavlik’s family did not take kindly to his reporting his father and on 3 September of that year, his uncle, grandfather, grandmother, and a cousin murdered him, along with his younger brother. All of them except the uncle were rounded up by the GPU and sentenced to “the highest measure of social defense” – execution by a firing squad.

Thousands of telegrams from all over the Soviet Union urged the judge to show no mercy for Pavlik’s killers. The Soviet government declared Pavlik Morozov a glorious martyr who had been murdered by reactionaries. Statues of him were built, and numerous schools and youth groups were named in his honour. An opera and numerous songs were written about him. The Gerasimovka school that Morozov attended, became a shrine, and children from all over the Soviet Union went on school excursions to visit it.

The entire story may have been a fabrication by the Soviet Communist Party under Josef Vissarionovich Stalin, yet another of the typical propaganda stories. Who, after all, could imagine a 13-year-old denouncing his own father to the police? Continue reading →

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It was never about “protecting democracy”.

The left have complained loudly that Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter and his support of that wholly radical concept of Freedom of Speech was a horrible, horrible thing, but while conservatives are no longer censored on that social media site, Mr Musk has allowed those on the left the same access they always had.

And thus we have Tristan Snell being able to vent his frustration that former President Donald Trump will become President again at noon on January 20th.

Who is Mr Snell? His self-written Twitter biography states that he is a “Lawyer, commentator, fighter for democracy. Prosecuted Trump University @ NY AG. Author of TAKING DOWN TRUMP. Host of the Tristan Snell Show on Apple + Spotify.” Continue reading →

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The Philadelphia Inquirer beclowns itself . . . again How do you publish a story about Police released images without publishing the images?

This site has reported, many times, on how The Philadelphia Inquirer censors the news, at the direction of publisher Elizabeth “Lisa” Hughes. Miss Hughes told us that “racial justice” concerns will be considered in the newspaper’s “crime and criminal justice coverage,” but today’s story raises it to the laughing out loud level.

Police release images of suspect in jeweled crown heist from Center City church

The burglar broke into St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church at 13th and Ludlow Streets by smashing through a stained-glass window and stole a golden crown, police said.

by Rodrigo Torrejón | Monday, January 13, 2025 | 12:51 PM EST

Image released by Philadelphia Police Department.

Police released images and video of the man they say stole a 125-year-old bejeweled golden crown from atop a marble statue of the Virgin Mary at St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church in Center City and asked the public for help in finding him.Around 1:10 a.m. Saturday, police said, the man broke into the church on the corner of South 13th and Ludlow Streets by smashing through a stained-glass window. The burglar was captured on surveillance video breaking through the window, climbing into the upper nave and going straight to the statue and crown, the church’s archivist, Anne Kirkwood, said.

A short clip from surveillance footage released by police Monday shows the man, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, a face mask, grey sweatpants, and red or pink sneakers, walking up an alleyway by the church before climbing what appears to be a fence and disappearing from view of the camera.

Other clips released by police show the suspect’s alleged getaway car, a grey Mitsubishi SUV.

There’s more at the original.

Yet, while talking about the released image and video, and having three photographs illustrating the article, which I used to obtain the images for this article, the Inquirer did not publish the image or video themselves. There were adequate hyperlinks to take readers to those things, but the Inky, for whatever cockamamie reasons they had, at least a of publication time here, 4:25 PM EST, left out the images about which the story was written!

The image at least appears to show a thin male with fairly dark skin, possibly a black male, breaking into the Center City church, but it isn’t quite clear enough for the viewer to be certain of his race.

Embedded video below the fold. Continue reading →

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Shedding a tear for Jennifer Rubin, who’s leaving The Washington Post.

We have reported on warmonger and #TrumpDerangementSyndrome sufferer Jennifer Rubin, the Washington Post columnist, several times before. At a time when foreign terrorists have been rampant and murders in Philadelphia had spiked, she was whining about “domestic terrorism,” and Elon Musk opening Twitter to greater freedom of speech. Mrs Rubin, who has told us of her great commitment to democracy, was appalled that a party she doesn’t like was allowed to run in democratic elections. She combitched about Post owner Jeff Bezos spiking an endorsement for Kamala Harris Emhoff, but didn’t quit over that, as several other Post personnel has done.

But now, she’s hitting the road:

Jen Rubin exits Washington Post, joins Norm Eisen to launch new outlet countering ‘authoritarian threat’

by Brian Stelter | Monday, January 13, 2024 | 8:45 AM EST

Jennifer Rubin, photo via Libs of TikTok

New York: CNN — Veteran opinion columnist Jennifer Rubin is becoming the latest in a long list of Washington Post figures to leave the troubled institution.Rubin is partnering with former White House ethics czar Norm Eisen and launching something new: a startup publication called The Contrarian.

The startup’s tagline, “Not owned by anybody,” is a pointed reference to billionaire Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos and other moguls who, in Rubin’s view, have “bent the knee” to President-elect Donald Trump.

“Our goal is to combat, with every fiber of our being, the authoritarian threat that we face,” Rubin told CNN in an interview ahead of the publication’s introduction.

Clearly, Mrs Rubin has been drinking her own Kool-Aid. While the incoming President might think that Mrs Ruban and her fellow travelers belong behind bars, there’s really no law under which she could be thrown in jail for expressing her opinions. She’s like the lovely Kathy Griffin, who’s been claiming that people need to come see her stand up comedy acts now, before she gets thrown into an ‘internment camp,’ is reaching people. I’d say her claim is overblown, considering that President Trump didn’t have her thrown behind barbed wire following her posting of a picture holding what was supposed to be the President’s bloody head, later saying that “she believes she’s been personally attacked by the president and the first family.” Continue reading →

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No matter how much you hate the credentialed media, you do not hate them enough! The Washington Post is in financial trouble

The First Street Journal has reported, several times, on The Washington Post and its financial losses. We even suggested, perhaps a bit tongue in cheek, how to save the newspaper. This time, it’s The Wall Street Journal’s turn!

The Washington Post Is Limping Into Trump’s Second Term

Financial struggles, concerns over editorial strategy rattle staffers at Jeff Bezos-owned publication

By Alexandra Bruell | Friday, January 10, 2024 | 11:52 AM EST

Donald Trump’s return to the White House should be a moment for the Washington Post to shine. The news outlet has a rich history of hard-nosed political reporting, and its coverage of Trump’s first term led to a huge jump in readership.

But as the president-elect’s second term approaches, the Post is mired in financial challenges and internal drama.

Subscription and ad-revenue shortfalls are taking a toll on the business, which lost around $100 million last year, and leaders are struggling to convince staff that they have a clear editorial vision and continuing commitment to hard-hitting journalism, according to more than a dozen people close to the newsroom. Rivals have poached many top Post journalists in recent weeks, and are in talks with others. Continue reading →

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I check Bluesky so you don’t have to Amanda Marcotte loves her some censorship and ordering of society . . . when it comes from the left

My good friend Robert Stacy McCain has frequently written, “I watch CNN” or sometimes MSNBC, “so you don’t have to.” Well, I created an account and check Bluesky, the liberal version of Twitter, so that you don’t have to. And checking this morning I found the very lovely Amanda Marcotte complaining that Mark Zuckerberg, the creator and owner of Facebook, is no longer going to apply liberally-oriented ‘fact checkers’ to posts on Facebook.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta makeover: MAGA grandpa is about to get much worse

Facebook ditches its fact-checking program in favor of Elon Musk’s army of disinformation zombies

by Amanda Marcotte | Wednesday, January 8, 2025 | 8:00 AM EST

In part because of his goofy appearance and in part because he doesn’t engage in fascist trolling like fellow billionaire Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg is rarely seen as a sinister character in modern American life. But Zuckerberg’s announcement that Facebook and Instagram will soon cease fact-checking is such a stellar model of villainous doublespeak that George Orwell would have thought it was a bit much. Zuckerberg insisted it’s in the name of “free speech” that he must unleash uncontrolled disinformation on his platform, adding, “The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritizing speech.” Continue reading →

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Will Bunch tells us he supports Freedom of Speech when he actually supports censorship.

That Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch is seriously infected with #TrumpDerangementSyndrome is of no surprise to anyone who reads his columns, at least anyone who isn’t already infected with #TDS himself. We have previously noted how the credentialed media were complicit in the coverup of outgoing President Biden’s significantly declining mental status, something about which Mr Bunch has not complained, yet the columnist on Sunday afternoon complained that former and future President Donald Trump and Twitter owner Elon Musk are waging “an all out war on the truth.” Continue reading →

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No matter how much you hate the credentialed media, you do not hate them enough! Another "journalist" tries to cover up the media's culpability in keeping Joe Biden's dementia a secret

Woodrow Wilson goes over papers at his desk with his wife Edith Bolling Wilson. Photo: Getty Images

Peggy Noonan is not some poorly-paid reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader, out in the hinterlands and isolated from the centers of elite power, but a Washington insider — though she now lives in New York City — beginning with the Reagan Administration, who now writes a weekly column for The Wall Street Journal, and is a regular contributor to other credentialed media sources. She is frequently a panelist on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” While she is described as being mostly “center-right,” but she distanced herself from the Republican Party when Donald Trump was winning the 2016 nomination. She called on Congress to censure President Trump following the release of the Mueller Report.

The President Who Wasn’t There

What we’re learning about the Biden White House is reminiscent of Woodrow and Edith Bolling Wilson.

by Peggy Noonan | Boxing Day, December 26, 2024 | 6:52 PM EST

We button up the astounding year with the scandal of 2024, which won’t take on its true size and historical significance until some time passes. Its facts—who did what, starting when, how it worked—will be fully reported not by journalists but by historians.

The story is the decline of Joe Biden’s mental acuity, a word we use because it sounds both clinical and polite, and by which we mean the president has been in apparent cognitive decline for some years, perhaps since before taking office, and wasn’t fully up to the job. His family and friends, top White House staff and other administration officials covered it up. Some no doubt thought his presidency was good for the country and some, perhaps, good for them.

In a front-page story this month, the Journal’s Annie Linskey, Rebecca Ballhaus, Emily Glazer and Siobhan Hughes spoke to nearly 50 people in and around the presidency and outlined how the White House adapted to the needs of “a diminished leader.” He met infrequently with cabinet members and congressional leaders, and the president’s staff seemed to be running things. This system “insulated him from the scrutiny of the American public.”

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