Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, and Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, have introduced the Dismantle DEI Act. The bill, S. 4516, is a necessary and important bill that would largely put an end to the racist policies being implemented throughout the federal government by the Biden administration under the rubric of diversity, equity, and inclusion. DEI policies are typically overtly racist and sexist in that they mandate that government or businesses establish quotas or discriminate based on sex, skin color, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. DEI defines diversity entirely in terms of immutable characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, or sex instead of the myriad other kinds of diversity, such as achievement, expertise, experience, approach to business or business philosophy, educational background, socioeconomic background, ethical or political views, integrity, geographic location, and so on. Morally, DEI represents a marked step backward. It is rejection of the principle that people should be judged on the content of their character and their individual achievement, rather than their sex, race, national origin, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. It’s a rejection of the principle that people should be judged as individuals rather than as members of a racial or sexual group. It’s also a rejection of the principle of equal protection under the law and a rejection of the principle that we are all created equal. Discrimination or quotas on the basis of race, ethnicity, or sex should be a relic of the past. Most Americans agree. Because racism has become so widespread in the federal government, the 48-page Dismantle DEI Act necessarily contains many provisions. First, the bill defines a ‘prohibited diversity, equity, or inclusion practice’ to mean: discriminating for or against any person on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, biological sex, or national origin; or requiring as a condition of employment, promotion, advancement, speaking, making a presentation, or submitting written materials that an employee (a) undergo training, education, or coursework that asserts that a particular race, color, ethnicity, religion, biological sex, or national origin is inherently or systemically superior or inferior, oppressive or oppressed, or privileged or unprivileged or (b) sign or assent to a statement, code of conduct, work program, or plan that requires assent by the employee that a particular race, color, ethnicity, religion, biological sex, or national origin is inherently or systemically superior or inferior, oppressive or oppressed, or privileged or unprivileged. The federal government, including federal advisory committees, would be prohibited from engaging in prohibited DEI practices. A private cause of action would be created so that private litigants can sue to enforce these requirements. Various statutory DEI-oriented offices and chief diversity officers would be eliminated. The bill would rescind six of President Joe Biden’s executive orders and two Biden administration national security memorandums implementing racist DEI policies. Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas—seen here walking down the steps of the U.S. Capitol on June 5—is the House sponsor of the bicameral Dismantle DEI Act. (Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images) The Cloud-Vance bill would also require the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget to revise all regulations, policies, procedures, manuals, circulars, courses, training, and guidance to comply with the act. It would require the closure of all DEI or similar offices throughout the federal government and would abolish the Chief Diversity Officers Executive Council. It would prohibit a wide range of DEI actions and personnel practices by federal officials and prohibit the use of DEI factors in the federal performance appraisal process. Federal contractors and grant recipients would be prohibited from using federal funds to engage in prohibited DEI practices. Most federal contracts would be required to contain a provision specifying that no part of the services performed under the contract can be performed in buildings or surroundings, under working conditions or in a working environment, provided by or under the control or supervision of a contractor or any subcontractor who is subject to, or required to comply with, a prohibited diversity, equity, or inclusion practice. Education accreditation organizations would be prohibited from requiring or coercing any institution of higher education to engage in prohibited diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. Financial regulators, including so-called self-regulatory organizations, would be barred from engaging in prohibited [PP1] DEI practices or requiring that regulated entities or members do so. The Dismantle DEI Act would go a long way toward eliminating the pervasive racism that has taken hold of the federal government and restoring equal protection of the law. The post Dismantling DEI = Restoring Equal Protection of Law appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Various elections are not the only thing Big Tech is “protecting” this summer: athletes competing in major sporting events are another. Meta has announced that the “protection measures” that are to affect its apps (Facebook, Instagram, and, Threads) will also extend to the fans. Regardless of the way Meta phrases it, the objective is clearly to censor what the giant decides is abusive behavior, bullying, and hate speech. The events that draw Meta’s particular attention are the European football championship (EURO 2024), and the Olympic and Paralympic Games. To prove how serious it is about implementing censorship in general, the company revealed an investment exceeding $20 billion that went into the “safety and security” segment (often resulting in unrestrained stifling of speech and deplatforming.) Coincidentally or not, this investment began in 2016, and since then, what Meta calls its safety and security team went up to 40,000 members, with 15,000 used as “content reviewers.” Before explaining how it’s going to “keep athletes and fans safe,” Meta also summed up the result of this spending and activities: 95% of whatever was deemed to be “hate speech” and similar has been censored before it even got reported, whereas some component of AI was used to automate issuing warnings to users that their comments “might be offensive.” Now, Meta says that users will be allowed to turn off DM requests on Instagram, isolating themselves in this way from anyone they don’t follow. This is supposed to “protect” athletes presumably from unhappy fans, and there’s also “Hidden Words.” “When turned on, this feature automatically sends DM requests — including Story replies — containing offensive words, phrases and emojis to a hidden folder so you don’t have to see them,” the blog post explained, adding, “It also hides comments with these terms under your posts.” This is just one of the features on Facebook and Instagram that effectively allows people to use these platforms for influence and/or monetary gain, but without interacting with anyone they don’t follow, including indirectly via comments (that will be censored, aka, “moderated”). Meta is not only out to “protect athletes,” but “educate” other users, this time on how to display “supportive behavior.” It doesn’t bode well that notoriously error-prone algorithms (AI) seem to have been given a key role in detecting “abusive” or “offensive” comments and then warning people they “may be breaking our rules.” But this “training of users” works, according to Meta, that shared testing of what they refer to as interventions showed that “people edited or deleted their comment 50% of the time after seeing these warnings.” If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Meta to Censor “Hate Speech” Ahead of Euro 2024 and Olympics, Highlighting $20B Censorship Investments appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. It’s surely just a coincidence that New York has passed its online digital ID law, just as the state has joined the ranks of states adopting mobile ID technology, enabling residents to convert their traditional driver’s licenses or non-driver IDs into digital formats. As of this week, New Yorkers can download the New Longyear Mobile ID app from both the Apple App Store and Google Play. This digital version allows users to verify their identity at airports and other locations requiring ID. To set up their mobile ID, users must initially scan both sides of their existing physical ID card using their smartphone. The launch was unveiled at a media event at LaGuardia Airport, where Robert Duffy, the federal security director for the Transportation Security Administration, and other officials were present. During the briefing, it was stated that the introduction of mobile IDs is a significant step towards modernizing identity security and airport screening processes. Officials highlighted the optional nature of the digital IDs, noting they offer greater convenience without being mandatory. Related: California Approves Online Digital ID Rules for Social Media Use Currently, there is no mandatory requirement for businesses or law enforcement to accept mobile IDs, and acceptance is entirely voluntary. Businesses, including bars, may begin accepting mobile IDs immediately, provided they install a state-sanctioned verifier application. According to a press release from Governor Kathy Hochul’s office, the New York Mobile ID app is operational in nearly 30 airports nationwide, including all terminals at LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports. New York is now among a growing list of states such as Arizona, Colorado, and Utah that have embraced mobile driver’s licenses. The shift to mobile IDs aligns with the broader trend of smartphones becoming digital wallets, capable of storing not just credit cards and IDs, but even car keys. However, this shift raises significant privacy issues. Digital IDs can be tracked more easily than physical cards, potentially exposing detailed information about individuals’ movements and activities. There are concerns about how securely this data is stored, especially when managed by third-party vendors. One major issue is the potential for increased surveillance. Digital IDs can be tracked more easily than physical cards, leading to the possibility of detailed tracking of individuals’ movements and activities. This capability poses a threat to personal privacy, as it could enable both governmental and non-governmental entities to collect and analyze vast amounts of personal data without explicit consent. Furthermore, the security of the data stored in digital IDs is a pressing concern. With third-party vendors often involved in managing these digital identities, the risk of data breaches or misuse increases. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post New York Rolls Out Digital IDs Following New Online Digital ID Law appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

How to Be a Producer in a Nation of Consumers

The Media Struggles to Accept They Got the Hunter Biden Laptop Wrong

Many species in the natural world have a certain little something that goes beyond the striking patterns visible on their fur and feathers. From fungi to wombats, many species have been found to be fluorescent – and now a whole range of glowing sea creatures from the Banda Sea in Indonesia and the Red Sea in Egypt are joining the party. The team behind the discovery have not been slacking by any means, and have described fluorescence in 27 species where it was not known to occur previously. These species include nudibranchs, sponges, fish and even octopuses across the phylums of Porifera, Mollusca, Arthropoda, Annelida, and Chordata. The team dove in both the Banda Sea and in the Red Sea in between February 2019 and September 2022. The team took photographs of the species with Leica THUNDER microscopy, and the images were used to learn more about the presence of fluorescence within the different body parts of the animals. The species from the Polyplacophora or chitons were found to have bright green, yellow, and red fluorescenceImage Credit: Poding, L.H., et al PLOS ONE (2024) CC BY 4.0Among the glowing species include Lybia tessellata, a smaller species of boxer crab; Corythoichthys intestinalis a species of snake pipefish; and six species of stony corals. Some species exhibited fluorescence in only certain body parts, such as the scarlet frogfish (Antennatus coccineus) which possessed green fluorescence all over its body, but orange fluorescence only in patches and in the lures. The team also described fluorescence in the order Octopoda for the first time in the species Abdopus aculeatus, and in the order Acifiacea, which are the sea squirts. For the nudibranchs, previously thought to only acquire fluorescence because of ingesting a glowing food source, the team found cases where the little gastropods were glowing all on their own. The team think that searching marine diversity hotspots with UV lights could even reveal more glowing species in the future. The paper is published in the journal PLOS ONE

The Chengdu Panda Base, nestled in the heart of Chengdu, Sichuan, China, is a haven for panda lovers and conservationists alike. This non-profit research and breeding facility spans an impressive 247 acres and is home to approximately 176 Giant Pandas. Since its inception in the 1980s, the base has successfully bred 261 pandas, making it... The post Nannies break the ‘adorable-o-meter’ lining up tiny baby pandas for nap appeared first on Animal Channel.

When Sybie was found wandering the streets on the south side of Chicago, it was clear she had a rough start in life. With signs of being used for backyard breeding and then abandoned, her journey to a safe and loving home was just beginning. Despite her past, Sybie’s hopeful spirit shone through, leading her... The post Unwanted dog ‘collapses’ with joy when she learns she’s getting forever home appeared first on Animal Channel.

The Hunter Biden federal gun trial has concluded with a guilty verdict and has now shifted to the sentencing phase. The Regime Media is making sure to lay down narrative groundwork ahead of the sentencing hearing. To that end, CNN has found Hunter’s “spiritual advisor”. Watch as Phillip leads the Reverend Doctor Christopher Bullock into a discussion of remorse: ABBY PHILLIP: You know, Hunter Biden has talked about his addiction, he’s talked about what that has been like for his life, but I wonder on this particular issue, or the set of issues that he was charged or has now been convicted of, has he ever expressed remorse for what led to all of this? REV. DR. CHRISTOPHER BULLOCK: I believe that he's aware of every step of his journey and remorse is a part of the process. Therefore, he is prepared to move forward knowing that God is a forgiving God. He has said in his own words that he has hurt people along the way, but we know that the power of prayer, the power of family, the power of faith can change him and any situation. Set aside your natural skepticism about whether or not Hunter Biden actually even has a spiritual advisor, and whether or not he actually listens to his advice. The bigger questions here are: why was he made available to the press, and why did Abby Phillip lead with the question on remorse?  Remorse is an element that the judge may consider at the time of sentencing. A spiritual advisor going on the record and saying that the defendant is remorseful is something that the defense can submit as an exhibit in support of their arguments for a more lenient sentence.  The rest of the interview was more narrative-setting and image rehab, which is key ahead of both the sentencing and the tax evasion trial in Los Angeles. The segment was also an opportunity for Phillip to elicit sympathy, via the Reverend, for President Biden, and to cast Hunter’s trial as a personal trial along with the loss of his first wife.  Expect more of this media image rehab in the coming days and weeks, in an effort to cast Hunter Biden as a sympathetic victim of his own addictions rather than a willful participant in the things of which he is accused. Although this trial is over, the Regime Media continue hard at work.  

Despite its deep ties to terrorism and anti-Semitism, Al Jazeera continues to receive a highly favorable score from media ratings firm Ad Fontes. Earlier this week, Israeli armed forces rescued three hostages from the Gaza home of Abdallah Aljamal, an Al Jazeera columnist and “Hamas terrorist.” This incident starkly exposes an Al Jazeera connection to Hamas, the organization behind the brutal terrorist massacre of Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023. Amid mounting evidence of Al Jazeera's connections to terrorism, the Israeli Knesset even passed legislation to shut down the outlet’s offices over serious security concerns. Yet, media ratings firm Ad Fontes, known for its leftist bias, continues to bestow a high rating on Al Jazeera. Ad Fontes labels Al Jazeera as left-leaning and deems it a “reliable” source for analysis and “fact reporting.” According to Ad Fontes, “Al Jazeera (website) is a news organization funded in part by the government of Qatar. Launched in 1996 as a broadcast station ‘for the public benefit,’ it is now a global network with bureaus in 70 locations around the world.” Ad Fontes gave Al Jazeera a reliability rating of 41.56 out of 64. In stark contrast, Fox News received a low score of 35.25 out of 62, and The Daily Wire was rated 32.26, making them only “generally reliable” by Ad Fontes’s standards. Not to be outdone, NewsGuard has a history of offering favorable statements about Al Jazeera after initially criticizing the media outlet for failing to disclose its financial ties to the Qatari government. “Al Jazeera’s connection to the Qatari government, going back to the news organization’s founding in 1996, is well documented. But until earlier this year, AlJazeera.com made no mention of Qatar, failing to disclose government ownership and control to its readers,” NewsGuard reported. Only after meeting with NewsGuard executives did Al Jazeera update its website to acknowledge that it is “funded in part by the Qatari government.”  However, Al Jazeera’s financial ties to Qatar are just the tip of the iceberg. The Media Research Center has extensively documented Al Jazeera’s role as a propaganda tool sympathetic to terrorists, particularly as it relates to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In addition to one of its columnists allegedly holding three Israeli hostages, Al Jazeera reporters Ismail Abu Omar and Mohamed Washah were also reportedly busted moonlighting as Hamas terrorists.  At least one of these so-called journalists was shown in military garb instructing on how to use military weaponry, as reported by The Times of Israel in February. But don't expect Ad Fontes and NewsGuard to hold Al Jazeera accountable. As previously revealed by MRC, these anti-free speech internet traffic cops are focused on censoring right-leaning media while apparently turning a blind eye to media sympathetic to terrorism. Shame on them. Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using MRC Free Speech America’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.