Jan 04
The historic struggle for freedom of speech and press is filled with stories of anonymous pamphleteers who overcame state repression to claim victory over darkness. Governments have historically sought to ban speech which is critical of government. Sometimes government officials claim such speech spreads “sedition,” or promotes violence, or allows “millionaires and billionaires” to control …
Dec 20
Remember last week in the run-up to the FCC’s vote to overturn the prior FCC’s “net neutrality” takeover of the internet (from 2 years ago)? “Mainstream” (meaning government-approved–and approving) media news reported that the public supported the 2015 government takeover of the internet and opposed the current FCC’s vote to overturn the prior FCC’s vote. …
Dec 18
Forget the Alien & Sedition Acts, the Palmer Raids, the Red Scare or the McCarthy Hearings. The greatest threat to freedom of speech and press in American history is the scam known as “campaign finance reform.” Government tyrants and despots have a thousand ways to influence elections to promote more powerful government. They secretly (and …
Dec 13
Startling new report from the Committee to Protect Journalists. As of December 1, 2017, 262 journalists were behind bars around the world in relation to their work, a new record after a historical high of 259 last year. Many of these jailed journalists are in China, Turkey, and Egypt. But the western world is partially …
Nov 16
Forget the Alien & Sedition Act prosecutions. Forget Lincoln’s arrests of pro-secession newspaper editors. Forget the Palmer Raids of World War I, the “Red Scares,” the imprisonment of Eugene V. Debs or the McCarthy Hearings of the 1950s. By far the greatest threat to freedom of speech and press that America ever faced was and …
Oct 27
An astounding story was published by Reuters reporters last week. In most countries, “the internet” is a multidimensional thing emanating and maintained by thousands of different businesses, people and institutions. But in some African countries, “the internet” may depend on a single cable system. “Since the start of 2016, governments in 13 African nations have …
Oct 25
According to Yahoo News, a Vietnamese student has been ordered jailed for 6 years for blog posts that criticized life under the Vietnamese government. See here. Like the government of the United States, the Vietnamese government employs teams of agents to monitor the internet and control the content of what subjects post.
Oct 20
Every government ultimately comes for all freedom, all resources, all property, and to kill or cage all who resist. Now the “G7” (the world’s 7 most powerful governments) are combining with a common goal: to push for controls on the internet which are deemed “terrorist” or “jihadist.” See here. (Of course, nothing said here should …
Sep 09
America’s government colleges have become temples of elitism, privilege, intolerance, socialism and government worship. Any American becomes instantly less free upon walking onto a government college campus. Many campuses have speech codes, restricted ‘first amendment zones’ and internal intelligence units which are paid to hunt down anti-government, free-market, or politically incorrect thought. Now there are …
Aug 08
Every government that ever existed has sought to equate dissent and criticism with terrorism or treason. Untold thousands of humans have been arrested, subjected to mock trials, and/or executed for saying or writing things which their masters in government did not like. Throughout European history, thousands were burned at the stake, hanged or tortured for …
