If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. UK’s “censorship law” – Online Safety Act – has gained in notoriety, as it has now become the subject of interest of the US House Judiciary Committee, which has for years tried to shed light on the censorship on the internet, and its actors and factors. So much so that the committee’s members have coined the expression, the Censorship Industrial Complex. While most of the body’s activities are centered around US social media and allegations of the Biden-Harris administration’s involvement in pressuring them to censor speech, no “complex” is considered to be on an industrial scale for no reason. A flurry of third parties – such as “fact-checkers” and “raters” – have been involved and investigated, including those based abroad – notably, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). A member of the Republican-majority committee, Congressman Darrell Issa, now strongly criticized the trends concerning censorship-enabling legislation in the EU and in the UK, singling out the Online Safety Act, and warning that “a tsunami of censorship is heading towards America” from abroad. And that’s just to add to what is already there – Issa called that situation, “malign actors here at home.” As for the UK law, the congressman is unimpressed by its authors and supporters promoting it as a way to protect against hate speech and other online ills. According to Issa, what it does is give regulators a tool to censor free speech, and as such is viewed by Republicans as part of “a broader global push by the Censorship Industrial Complex.” Issa in full, from The Spectator: “The growing attacks on free speech in the US – as well as the UK and EU – pose a direct threat to free people on both sides of the Atlantic. We know that legislation like the Online Safety Act that is said to combat ‘hate speech’ empowers regulators to censor free speech. “Congressional Republicans understand that these threats to free speech are part of a broader global push by the Censorship Industrial Complex, which includes not only the EU, UK, and other nations but also malign actors here at home. We are committed to confronting this growing threat alongside the incoming Trump Administration to fight against these assaults on free speech within our borders and around the world.” The congressman had no problem counting the UK and the EU (with its Digital Services Act) among the places this push emanates from, while also vowing that the second Trump administration, alongside Congress Republicans, intends to “fight against these assaults on free speech within our borders and around the world.” In the UK itself, there are those like Reform Party leader Nigel Farage who couldn’t agree more. Farage, who has close ties with Trump, has made comments about a free speech crackdown in his country. The UK branch of the Alliance Defending Freedom advocacy group also agrees. Executive Director Paul Coleman said that the Judiciary Committee’s criticism and stance on a number of issues “shows that the UK is fast becoming notorious around the world for its censorious practices.” If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post US Republicans Condemn UK’s Online Censorship Law as a “Tsunami…Heading Towards America” appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. A lot has been said about how the outgoing US administration’s focus on censorship (“combating misinformation“); it negatively affected online speech and now a number of federal spending documents examined by a non-profit show the price of that effort – or at least a part of it. A new report prepared by OpenTheBooks details the grants the Biden-Harris administration started giving out as it took over in early 2021, and this doesn’t include the taxpayer money spent internally, by various departments and agencies. The grants figure comes to $267 million – a massive increase (44 times more) compared to the $6.7 million that Trump’s first administration set aside for the same purpose. The grants went toward researching what the outgoing White House chose to consider misinformation, which in many cases resulted in third parties – organization, academia, etc., – promoting and/or censoring speech, opponents of the practice say, effectively (and unconstitutionally) – as government proxies. Covid was one of the major topics covered by this type of “research” and here, the report notes, the approach was both to offer monetary incentives, and to pressure companies operating social networks in order to promote government narratives, but also shut down not only criticism, but even skepticism. To make matters worse – many of these issues whose official explanation was treated as gospel, resulting in people getting deplatformed and demonetized if they questioned these interpretations, shortly after turned out to be anything but “misinformation” – such as the origin of the virus, the efficacy of mask-wearing, social distancing, the safety of vaccines, etc. But, $127 million of US taxpayers’ money in total was used to enforce those narratives, through pro-vaccine advocacy, studies meant to stop “misinformation” on the internet, and the like. One of the studies that received a government grant worth $200,000 ended up being used to go after then-former President Trump as one of the populist leaders around the world who were supposedly preventing “people coming together in solidarity.” The report notes that this paper also promoted “experts” at the expense of allowing people to voice their opinions freely – regarding their own lives (in this case, affected by the pandemic measures). If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post The $267 Million Price Tag on Censorship Efforts Under Biden appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Biology™ Update: Scottish Supreme Court to Determine What a 'Woman' Is

Unless human lifespans are dramatically increased, you will not live to see Pluto's birthday.

Sort of makes sense when they’re chasing you.

It might look odd, but bones are an important source of minerals.

Incoming border czar Tom Homan said if Denver Mayor Mike Johnston (D) is willing to go to jail for interfering with and obstructing President-elect Donald Trump's administration's mass deportation plans, then he is willing to put Johnston in jail.Johnston made those comments last week after declaring he would use the Denver Police Department to stop federal and military assets from entering the county to carry out the deportations. Johnston did not fully walk back that threat, saying he does not want an armed conflict with the U.S. government but that the city will find ways to resist Trump's plan."I'm not afraid of that, and I'm also not seeking that. I think the goal is we want to be able to negotiate with reasonable people on how to solve hard problems," Johnston said.'States and localities should be required, not just to refrain from sabotaging federal immigration enforcement, but to assist with it.'When asked about the mayor's remarks by Fox News host Sean Hannity, Homan said Johnston's terms are acceptable."You are absolutely breaking the law. All he has to do is look at Arizona v. U.S., and he would see he's breaking the law. But, look, me and the Denver mayor, we agree on one thing: He’s willing to go to jail; I’m willing to put him in jail," Homan promised."President Trump has been clear. We want to concentrate on public safety threats and national security threats. I find it hard to believe that any governor would say they don’t want public safety threats removed from their neighborhoods," he added.Homan has previously warned that Democratic leaders who plan on using their office to conceal illegal immigrants and interfere with Trump's deportation plan will be in violation of Title 8 U.S.C. § 1324."They need to educate themselves. They need to review this: Title 8 U.S.C. § 1324. Read about that and don't cross that line, because it’s a felony to harbor and conceal an illegal alien from ICE. Don’t cross that line," Homan said last week.Johnston is just one of the many state- and local-level Democrats who say they will not cooperate with the federal government's operation.Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) on Tuesday said that is still not good enough."States and localities should be required, not just to refrain from sabotaging federal immigration enforcement, but to assist with it as a condition of receiving federal funding. While the federal government cannot simply 'commandeer' state and local officials to enforce federal law, making federal dollars contingent on cooperation with immigration enforcement would be both appropriate and constitutional," he explained.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

A male athlete will be allowed to compete in the Mountain West Conference tournament after a United States district judge denied a motion to disqualify the player.That athlete is San Jose State University's transgender player, Blaire Fleming. Born Brayden, Fleming is a 6'1'' male whose participation in NCAA women's volleyball games has sparked five separate forfeits from opposing teams.About a week prior to the judge's decision, 11 female NCAA athletes and one coach filed a lawsuit against the MWC and SJSU alleging the female athletes were subject to a new "Transgender Participation Policy" that sought to "suppress the free speech rights of women athletes."Judge S. Kato Crews, appointed by President Joe Biden, denied a series of motions that sought to disqualify Fleming from playing in the conference as well as negate losses that other teams received by forfeiting against SJSU during the season.'The movants have failed to meet their burden to show irreparable harm.'According to OutKick, the judge spent the first 30 minutes of the emergency hearing deliberating which pronouns to use when talking about Fleming.Judge Crews ultimately decided that "the movants have failed to meet their burden to show irreparable harm, a likelihood of success on the merits, or that the balance of harms or equities is in their favor.""The threatened injury to the movants if an injunction issues is outweighed by the MWC’s interest in holding the upcoming MWC Tournament without an eleventh-hour shake-up to its currently planned structure," the judge wrote. "The relief requested with the Emergency Motion would risk confusion and upend months of planning and would prejudice, at a minimum, Defendants and other teams participating in the tournament depending on the results of any reseeding.""The movants have failed to meet their burden to show irreparable harm, thus justifying denial of the Emergency Motion and USU's motion partially joining in it," Judge Crews also wrote.After the ruling, the plaintiffs announced they would be filing an emergency appeal to the Tenth Circuit court asking for an emergency injunction.The Transgender Participation Policy at the center of the lawsuit states that the NCAA will "not entertain inquiries or challenges regarding the eligibility of transgender student-athletes." Schools are also not required to provide information to their opponents about whether or not there is a transgender athlete on their team.SJSU has remained mostly silent throughout the controversy but has suspended one female coach who spoke out about the issue. Associate head volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose has since joined the lawsuit against the MWC and SJSU.As well, SJSU was previously revealed to have asked other schools to pay for alleged losses SJSU incurred due to the forfeits.If the MWC tournament is to go on as planned, SJSU will play a March 4 match against either Utah State or Boise State; both teams forfeited against them during the season.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Free speech might be going strong in the United States, but the U.K. is only becoming more Orwellian by the day. U.K. police have not only investigated a writer for a deleted post and a journalist for a tweet she posted in the wake of the pro-Palestinian protests, but also jailed a woman for nine months for livestreaming allegedly racist comments. “Allison Pearson is the journalist; she’s actually just been let off by the Essex police. That story specifically was that a year ago in November, just after the October 7 massacre, she was in London and at a pro-Israel event and mistook a flag, which she though was a Hamas flag, which was actually a Pakistani, Imran Khan, his political party flag, and she said, ‘Oh, they’re Jew-haters,’” Winston Marshall tells Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report.” Pearson deleted the tweet once her mistake was pointed out to her, but that didn’t stop the police from spending a year investigating her. “She’s investigated, and we have this thing called a ‘non-crime hate incident,’” Marshall continues, while Rubin interjects, “Orwell would be proud.” “Orwell was moderate compared to what’s going on,” Marshall argues. “A ‘non-crime hate incident,’ this isn’t a real crime. It’s if someone perceives you to be spreading hatred, and how they define hatred is different in every bloody country.” “If someone perceives you to be offensive to someone, even if you’re not the person being offended, you can log a non-crime hate incident,” he continues, adding, “This week, a 9-year-old was booked by the police for calling another classmate a ‘r*tard’.” Want more from Dave Rubin?To enjoy more honest conversations, free speech, and big ideas with Dave Rubin, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

The vicious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has extended its reach in Chicago, Illinois, prompting the local police department to initiate training for its officers to identify the dangerous gang members.Tren de Aragua has been linked to numerous crimes across the country, including retail theft and human trafficking.'Tattoos are big with these guys.'According to Chicago Police Department memos obtained by America First Legal and viewed by the New York Post, the gang has now expanded its criminal activity into dealing "pink cocaine," a mysterious illicit substance.The memo read, "Drug of choice is Pink Cocaine which is a mixture of several drugs and can vary between different narcotics. E.g. Ecstasy, Amphetamines, LSD, or other synthetic drugs."When recovering the substance, officers are advised to treat it similarly to fentanyl since "it is often used" as an ingredient.A federal law enforcement source told the Post that the new drug sells for at least $100 per gram. Authorities are concerned about its growing popularity, especially considering there is no standard formula for it.Drug Enforcement Administration special operations division chief Derek Maltz told the news outlet that it is "not like cocaine." He warned that TDA is "going to do everything they can to make money."The CPD documents also revealed that officers are being trained on how to spot TDA-affiliated tattoos, which encompass a wide range of symbols, including doves, roses, owls, rifles, gas masks, trains, crowns, stars, pocket watches, the Michael Jordan logo, and Popeye the Sailor."Tattoos are big with these guys," the memo read. "They'll be seen dressed like rappers and wearing black & red jerseys like Bulls, Blackhawks or Jordan apparel."While CPD ramps up training to combat TDA's presence in the city, Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) is doubling down on his commitment to shield illegal aliens from President-elect Donald Trump's mass deportation plans. Chicago is a sanctuary city that prevents local law enforcement officers from cooperating with federal immigration agents. Earlier this month, Johnson stated, "The president-elect, former President Trump, his threat is not just toward new arrivals and undocumented families. His threats are also against black families.""We're going to stand up and protect undocumented individuals," he declared.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!