NPR&#8217;s president and CEO said she abandoned the idea of a &#8220;free and open&#8221; internet as the mission of Wikipedia, which she used to lead, because it is a &#8220;white, male, Westernized construct.&#8221;
In a newly resurfaced video clip, Katherine Maher, who took over as NPR&#8217;s chief executive in January says she found Wikpedia&#8217;s &#8220;free and open&#8221; ethos &#8220;inherently limited.&#8221; The clip was posted to X by Christopher Rufo, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
Maher served as chief executive at the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia, from 2019 to 2021.
&#8220;I have come to the opinion and the perspective that &#8216;free and open&#8217; was a way of looking at the world that was inherently limited relative to what we were trying to achieve,&#8221; Maher says in the clip.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
EXCLUSIVE: Katherine Maher says that she abandoned a &quot;free and open&quot; internet as the mission of Wikipedia, because those principles recapitulated a &quot;white male Westernized construct&quot; and &quot;did not end up living into the intentionality of what openness can be.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/Ved9mgGvJH">pic.twitter.com/Ved9mgGvJH</a>
&mdash; Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) <a href="https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1780929268949614848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
EXCLUSIVE: Katherine Maher doesn&#39;t just want to &quot;stamp out bad information&quot; on the internet. She wants to replace it with &quot;good information&quot;—i.e., left-wing narratives—and force the public to &quot;sit within that good information&quot; as &quot;a collective.&quot;
Big Sister has arrived. <a href="https://t.co/7kfq8VYHfj">pic.twitter.com/7kfq8VYHfj</a>
&mdash; Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) <a href="https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1781009614584381486?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
EXCLUSIVE: Katherine Maher says the &quot;the number one challenge&quot; in her fight against disinformation is &quot;the First Amendment in the United States,&quot; which makes it &quot;a little bit tricky&quot; to censor &quot;bad information&quot; and &quot;the influence peddlers&quot; who spread it.
NPR&#39;s censor-in-chief. <a href="https://t.co/0vY6hIpbmO">pic.twitter.com/0vY6hIpbmO</a>
&mdash; Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) <a href="https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1780597079439446250?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;&#8216;Free and open&#8217; has the best of intentionality, but in the end what &#8216;free and open&#8217; often ended up doing, and particularly in the case of Wikipedia, was recapitulating many of the same power structures and dynamics that exist offline, prior to the advent of the internet,&#8221; Maher said.
One of the problems with Wikipedia is the way it relies on a &#8220;written tradition&#8221; and &#8220;reliable sources,&#8221; Maher said.
&#8220;You see the exclusion of communities, of languages because of the ways in which Wikipedia is based on reliable sources. The idea of a written tradition, which is particular to some cultures and not to others,&#8221; the former Wikimedia CEO said.
&#8220;The ways in which we ascribe notability often really comes from sort of this white, male, Westernized construct around who matters in societies and who is elevated and whose voices. And so some of these ideas of sort of this radical openness really did not end up living into the intentionality of what openness can be,&#8221; she said.
X owner Elon Musk responded to the clip, <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1780962477011796287" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posting</a>, &#8220;That’s literally the point of Wikipedia.&#8221;
Maher has recently come under fire from conservatives after a former NPR editor blew the whistle on the outlet&#8217;s liberal bias. Former editor Uri Berliner resigned Wednesday after NPR suspended him.
In the wake of the NPR editor&#8217;s accusations, a slew of since-deleted tweets and previous statements from Maher have surfaced, adding fuel to the outrage.
In another clip posted by Rufo, Maher says she is interested in how we can &#8220;immerse ourself in good information,&#8221; not just &#8220;stamp out bad information.&#8221;
In yet another clip, Maher says the &#8220;number one challenge&#8221; for her in fighting disinformation is the First Amendment, which she calls a &#8220;fairly robust protection of rights.&#8221;
&#8220;It also means that it is a little bit tricky to really address some of the real challenges of where does bad information come from,&#8221; she said.
She has been accused of expressing explicitly biased views in her previous tweets.
In 2018, Maher <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/04/13/us-news/nprs-new-ceo-katherine-mahers-woke-tweets-arise-as-editor-claims-bias/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a>, “Donald Trump is a racist.”
In 2020 she wrote, &#8220;I mean, sure, looting is counterproductive. But it’s hard to be mad about protests not prioritizing the private property of a system of oppression founded on treating people’s ancestors as private property.&#8221;

Web Summit Lisbon 2023

‘White, Male, Westernized’: NPR President Said She Opposed Wikipedia’s ‘Free And Open’ Mission

'White, Male, Westernized': NPR President Said She Opposed Wikipedia's 'Free And Open' Mission

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

First Amendment

Free Speech

National Public Radio (NPR)

Wikipedia

Woke Culture

Wokeness

A federal judge on Friday greenlit legal action from GOP Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia against two California cities over rallies canceled in each in 2021.
Gaetz and Greene sued the cities of Anaheim and Riverside last year after multiple venues repeatedly canceled reservations by the lawmakers to hold America First rallies. The Republican lawmakers allege that the city officials pressured the venues to cancel in response to leftist backlash and that the cancellations violate free speech protections.
“Plaintiffs adequately allege that the Municipal Defendants delegated to their respective agents the authority to cancel the rally (and/or ratified the relevant conduct after the fact) and that the event cancellations were expressly predicated on viewpoint discrimination,” U.S. District Judge Hernan Vera, a Biden appointee, wrote in a 22-page <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.891532/gov.uscourts.cacd.891532.95.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opinion</a>.
Vera’s ruling is a procedural win for Gaetz and Greene, though not a total one. The lawmakers included in their complaint accusations against leftist groups, such as the NAACP, that Gaetz and Greene said illegally conspired with Anaheim and Riverside officials to stop the rallies. The judge rebuked the lawmakers for a “complete lack of any alleged facts to support a ‘meeting of the minds’ as required for a conspiracy claim.”
“Here, the Complaint — even charitably construed with all reasonable inferences drawn in Plaintiffs’ favor — is utterly devoid of any specifics plausibly alleging such an agreement,” Vera wrote.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1711286276343000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0fBaWjje6IONihcMZ4R_jT">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
“The gravamen of Plaintiffs’ claims against the Nonprofit Defendants is, both legally and literally, a conspiracy theory that relies purely on conjecture,” the judge continued. “And without an unlawful conspiracy, all that is left to aver against the Nonprofit Defendants are the unremarkable allegations that they exercised their own First Amendment rights to lobby for the cancellation of the event. That is protected.”
In 2021, Gaetz and Greene were involved in booking three different venues across Orange and Riverside counties. Each venue <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-07-14/reps-matt-gaetz-and-marjorie-taylor-greene-file-lawsuit-alleging-free-speech-violations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">canceled</a> in succession as activists’ complaints inundated the venues in opposition to the rallies. After the last venue canceled within 24 hours of the scheduled event, Gaetz and Greene elected to hold a “peaceful protest against communism” outside Riverside City Hall.
Gaetz and Greene are represented by a legal team that includes John Eastman, a controversial lawyer who advised President Donald Trump near the end of his term. Eastman was indicted along with Trump in the Georgia election case for allegedly trying to overturn the results of the 2020 race in the state.

Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene

Judge Greenlights Gaetz, Greene Lawsuit Against California Cities Over Canceled ‘America First’ Rallies

California

Courts

Marjorie Taylor Greene

Matt Gaetz

Politics

A first grader who made a drawing that included the words “Black Lives Mater [sic]” with “any life” underneath was punished by her school.
Her mother sued the school, arguing her daughter’s First Amendment rights were violated, but a California district court ruled that the drawing was not protected speech because educators are given “substantial deference as to what speech is appropriate.”
The little girl, referred to only as B.B. in <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.876261/gov.uscourts.cacd.876261.92.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the court documents</a>, drew the picture and gave it to another student, referred to only as M.C., who is apparently a student of color. M.C.’s mother saw the drawing and emailed the school, saying she trusted that the school would address the drawing.
The background provided in the judge&#8217;s ruling said that on the day M.C.’s mother emailed the school, B.B. was approached by the school’s principal during recess and told the drawing was “inappropriate” and “racist,” though the school disputes telling her it was racist. B.B. was told she could not draw anymore and that she must apologize to M.C., which B.B. did, twice.
After recess, B.B. was told by her teachers that she would not be allowed to play during recess for two weeks, but was not told why, according to the documents. There is also no evidence the principal directed the teachers to further punish B.B.
B.B.’s mother insisted that the punishment violated B.B.’s constitutional right to free speech, but the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California’s Southern Division ruled the opposite.
Citing previous case law, the court said that students don’t “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate,&#8221; but that their rights also are &#8220;not automatically coextensive with the rights of adults in other settings.&#8221;
Further, the court cited case law arguing that the First Amendment must be “applied in light of the special characteristics of the school environment” and that educators understand those needs best.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1711117030988000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1TK6y-udiFbXey2vkVM2ue">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
The court cited Tinker v. Des Moines Indep. School Dist., which held that schools could restrict speech that “might reasonably lead school authorities to forecast substantial disruption of or material interference with school activities” or that infringes on “the rights of other students to be secure and let alone.” The court also said that educators have &#8220;greater leeway&#8221; in regulating speech &#8220;directed at a &#8216;particularly vulnerable&#8217; student based on a &#8216;core identifying characteristic,&#8217; such as race, sex, religion, or sexual orientation &#8230;&#8221;
The court argued that by giving the drawing to M.C., described as a “particularly vulnerable” student because of her skin color, the school acted reasonably in regulating B.B.’s free speech. The court also said that the drawing interfered with the school environment.
“Younger students may be more sensitive than older students, so their educational experience may be more affected when they receive messages based on a protected characteristic,” the court argued. “Relatedly, first graders are impressionable. If other students join in on the insults, the disruption could metastasize, affecting the learning opportunities of even more students.”
The California court argued the phrase &#8220;any life&#8221; to be “similar to ‘All Lives Matter,’ a sentence with an inclusive denotation but one that is widely perceived as racially insensitive and belittling when directed at people of color.”
In her own testimony, B.B. said she gave the drawing to M.C. to make her feel comfortable after learning about Martin Luther King Jr. in class. It is also unclear how M.C. felt about the drawing, given that it was her mother who emailed the school after finding the drawing in M.C.’s backpack.
Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor, <a href="https://reason.com/volokh/2024/03/19/black-lives-matter-any-life-drawing-not-protected-by-the-first-amendment-in-first-grade/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> that he found the court’s ruling “unconstitutional, even in first grade.”
“[T]he court&#8217;s view here seems to be that this viewpoint—simply because it ‘can be seen’ as dissenting from what some see as the only proper response to racial problems—is stripped of First Amendment protection,” Volokh wrote. “The ‘Black Lives Matter’ slogan is accepted as the one orthodoxy, and any perceived dissent from the view that black lives should be specially stressed in this context can be forbidden.”

Black Lives Matter Logo

First Grader Punished After Drawing ‘BLM’ With ‘Any Life’ Underneath. A Court Ruled Free Speech Doesn’t Protect Her.

First Grader Punished After Drawing 'BLM' With 'Any Life' Underneath. A Court Ruled Free Speech Doesn't Protect Her.

Lawsuit

U.S.

President Joe Biden&#8217;s sole contribution to the Supreme Court — Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson — made headlines during her confirmation hearing when she <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/yes-judge-ketanji-brown-jackson-can-define-woman-the-woke-left-just-wont-let-her" target="_blank" rel="noopener">failed to define</a> the word &#8220;woman.&#8221;
On Monday, she made headlines again — this time because during oral arguments in the social media censorship case <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/appeals-court-rules-biden-officials-violated-first-amendment-in-social-media-censorship-case" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Murthy v. Missouri</a>, she voiced concerns over the fact that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was doing exactly what it was designed to do: restraining the federal government.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
KBJ doubles down: “My biggest concern is that your view has the First Amendment hamstringing the government in significant ways.”
That is, quite literally, the entire point of the First Amendment—of the entire Bill of Rights. <a href="https://t.co/gWMCaHDG1W">pic.twitter.com/gWMCaHDG1W</a>
&mdash; System Update (@SystemUpdate_) <a href="https://twitter.com/SystemUpdate_/status/1769753959315427812?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Speaking to Louisiana Solicitor General Benjamin Aguiñaga, Jackson said, &#8220;My biggest concern is that your view has the First Amendment hamstringing the government in significant ways in the most important time periods.&#8221;
She went on to suggest that she believed there were occasions when government should have the power — and, in fact, had a duty — to dictate what could and could not be posted on social media, and she &#8220;worried&#8221; that a strict reading of the First Amendment could threaten to rein that in.
&#8220;You seem to be suggesting that that duty cannot manifest itself in the government encouraging or even pressuring platforms to take down harmful information. So, can you help me?&#8221; Jackson continued. &#8220;Because I’m really worried about that because you’ve got the First Amendment operating in an environment of threatening circumstances, from the government’s perspective, and you’re saying that the government can’t interact with the source of those problems.&#8221;
&#8220;Our position is not that the government can’t interact with the platforms there. They can and they should in certain circumstances like that, that present such dangerous issues for society and especially young people. But the way they do that has to be in compliance with the First Amendment. And I think that means they can give them all the true information that the platform needs and ask to amplify that,&#8221; Aguiñaga replied.
Jackson was not quite finished, however, and she argued that certain situations — such as the COVID pandemic — warranted the government stepping in &#8220;to ensure, for example, that the public has accurate information in the context of a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.&#8221;
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1700760801843000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) responded to Jackson&#8217;s assessment, noting that in the case of the pandemic, the information the government had suppressed had turned out to be accurate — and pointing out that her chief complaint about the First Amendment appeared to be that it was working as the Founders had intended it to.
&#8220;She said you&#8217;ve got the First Amendment &#8216;hamstringing the government.&#8217; Well, that&#8217;s what it&#8217;s supposed to do, for goodness sake. It was literally one of the craziest things I&#8217;ve ever seen, that you could have a Supreme Court Justice say that in the oral argument made no sense to me,&#8221; Jordan said. &#8220;That is frightening because if she really believes that, that is scary where we are heading. Understand what took place here. This was censorship by surrogate. This was big government telling big tech to take down speech that they disagreed with, and it was the most fundamental kind of speech. It was political speech.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Jim Jordan Rips Ketanji Brown Jackson&#39;s Concern about the First Amendment: &quot;Hamstringing the Government&quot;<a href="https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Jim_Jordan</a>: &quot;She said you&#39;ve got the First Amendment &#39;hamstringing the government.&#39; Well, that&#39;s what it&#39;s supposed to do, for goodness sake. It was literally one of the… <a href="https://t.co/OhqA0vXKon">pic.twitter.com/OhqA0vXKon</a>
&mdash; KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) <a href="https://twitter.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/1769820119218463038?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Senate Holds Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings For Ketanji Brown Jackson

Biden’s Only SCOTUS Pick Can’t Define ‘Woman,’ Objects To The First Amendment

Biden's Only SCOTUS Pick Can't Define 'Woman,' Objects To The First Amendment

General

Joe Biden

Ketanji Brown Jackson

Supreme Court

What Is A Woman

An 82-year-old woman is demanding access to a local YMCA-operated pool after being banned from the facility for speaking out against a man using the women’s locker room, according to a <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/20240319_Jaman_Demand_Letter.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> obtained exclusively by The Daily Wire. 
Julie Jaman, represented by the Center for American Liberty, wants an apology from the city of Port Townsend and the YMCA after she was banned from the Mountain View Pool in July 2022 when she voiced her concerns. Jaman said that the city and the YMCA violated her First Amendment rights and her right to due process and that she might sue if the ban is not reversed. 
&#8220;I was showering in the women&#8217;s dressing room when I saw a man wearing a woman&#8217;s swimsuit watching little girls undress. I was obligated to speak up and ask for help,&#8221; Jaman told The Daily Wire. Since that moment, I have suffered mob-like attacks, public humiliation, and widespread mendacious reporting. If this had been the 17th century, I would have been burned at the stake. I have been active in this community for 40 years, and my hope is that my credibility is restored.&#8221;  
The letter says that the city and the YMCA made defamatory statements about her after she was banned from the facility. 
<div class="page" title="Page 2">
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
&#8220;Since her banishment, the City, in concert with the YMCA, has engaged in a high-profile smear campaign that has caused her severe emotional distress and has painted her in a false light within the community,&#8221; the letter from Center for American Liberty CEO Harmeet Dhillon, first obtained by The Daily Wire, said. &#8220;The City and the YMCA have continued to ban Jaman from using the Pool.&#8221;
</div>
</div>
</div>
According to the letter, Jaman said she was showering after swimming at the pool in July 2022 when she heard a male voice in the women&#8217;s locker room. 
&#8220;When she pulled back the shower curtain to see who was there, she saw a biological male wearing a female swimsuit,&#8221; the letter continued. &#8220;The individual &#8211; later identified to Jaman as &#8216;Clementine Adams&#8217; &#8211; was watching two young girls who appeared to be about four to six years old as they were preparing to use the toilet.&#8221;
Jaman asked Adams, &#8220;Do you have a penis?&#8221; to which Adams replied, &#8220;None of your business.&#8221;
After complaining about the presence of a male in the female locker room, Jaman was told by pool staff that her language was &#8220;discriminatory.&#8221; 
The man in the locker room was an employee of the YMCA who identifies as transgender. Jaman says she believed that she had witnessed a crime because of his presence in the women&#8217;s locker room near the two girls. 
The letter said that Jaman went to the police station to file a report after the confrontation and that police later followed up to investigate the YMCA&#8217;s accusations against her.
The Center for American Liberty added that the city and the YMCA inappropriately took sides against Jaman before investigating the incident.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1700760801843000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
&#8220;When an 80-year-old woman reasonably believes she is witnessing a crime against minors in a women’s showering area, the government’s reaction should be to gather all of the facts and learn what happened, not take sides in an ideologically charged debate,&#8221; the letter says. &#8220;The City and the YMCA plainly have strong feelings regarding the presence of transgender individuals in private areas. So strong, in fact, that they support allowing adult biological males watch young girls while they undress in the Pool locker room.&#8221;
Dhillon&#8217;s letter says that the ban on Jaman must be reversed, the city and the YMCA must offer a formal apology, and she must be paid $350,000 for emotional distress caused by the incident. Port Townsend and the YMCA have until March 27 at 5:00 p.m. PST to respond to the letter, or they could face a lawsuit.
&#8220;Jaman simply wants to return to the Pool she has used for almost forty years,&#8221; the letter concluded. &#8220;She wants to continue recreating with her friends and fellow Pool patrons. She wants everyone at the Pool to feel safe and secure in sensitive places. And above all else, she wants her life back. The City’s refusal to allow Jaman to return to the Pool represents the sad reality of constitutional rights and public safety in Port Townsend. The City must make amends immediately to stop the ongoing harm to Jaman and to the community.&#8221;

MixCollage-18-Mar-2024-08-36-PM-8380

EXCLUSIVE: 82-Year-Old Woman Threatens Lawsuit After Trans Incident At YMCA Pool

Transgender

Washington

YMCA

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson will testify on Capitol Hill this week for a House hearing on allegations of government collusion with banks to snoop on the private financial information of U.S. citizens, The Daily Wire has learned.
The Thursday hearing will be held by the House Judiciary Committee&#8217;s Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which is chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). Jordan announced in January of this year that his committee obtained documents that show the federal government <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/media/press-releases/federal-government-flagged-transactions-using-terms-maga-and-trump-financial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flagged</a> monetary transactions using terms associated with former President Donald Trump for financial institutions.
&#8220;We now know the federal government flagged terms like &#8216;MAGA&#8217; and &#8216;TRUMP,&#8217; to financial institutions if Americans completed transactions using those terms,&#8221; Jordan <a href="https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1747718053365010737" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post to X. &#8220;What was also flagged? If you bought a religious text, like a BIBLE, or shopped at Bass Pro Shop.&#8221;
In addition to being a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/watch/jordan-peterson">DailyWire+ host</a>, Peterson is a Canadian clinical psychologist, best-selling author, and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto.
Ever since February of 2022, when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trudeau-announces-unprecedented-action-freezing-bank-accounts-of-freedom-convoy-protesters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">invoked</a> the Emergencies Act to freeze money to members of the &#8220;Freedom Convoy&#8221; who protested restrictive COVID-19 measures and vaccine mandates, Peterson has raised concerns about government abuse of the financial system.
When a top official said &#8220;accounts will be frozen,&#8221; Peterson <a href="https://twitter.com/jordanbpeterson/status/1494380989002489856?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned</a> on X that it meant the government &#8220;can now steal your money with the collusion of the banks because you provided financial support to a protest against the government. If you think this is a good idea you deserve what [is] coming to you.&#8221;
Peterson continued to speak out about the controversy in posts to social media. &#8220;Your seizure of Canadian bank accounts was the worst single act of the most reprehensible government in Canadian history,&#8221; he <a href="https://twitter.com/jordanbpeterson/status/1626697575742205952?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post to X in February 2023.
Concerns about federal law enforcement targeting political and religious expression protected by the Constitution as well as protecting civil liberties are certain to be topics of discussion during the hearing on Thursday.
In addition to Peterson, the witnesses who are expected to attend include: Brian Knight, senior research fellow and director of Innovation and Governance at George Mason University&#8217;s Mercatus Center at George Mason University; Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom; and Norbert Michel, vice president and director of the Cato Institute&#8217;s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives.

Dr. Jordan Peterson/Jim Jordan

Jordan Peterson To Testify To Congress On Government Collusion With Banks

Jordan Peterson To Testify At Hearing on Alleged Government Collusion With Banks

Banks

Canada

Congress

Jim Jordan

Jordan Peterson

U.S. House of Representatives

A left-wing legal analyst claimed this week that the First Amendment makes the U.S. &#8220;vulnerable&#8221; and makes it hard for Democrats to be able to &#8220;regulate speech&#8221; without being accused of censorship.
The Friday remarks from former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade on MNSBC came while she was discussing a book that she wrote about &#8220;disinformation.&#8221;
&#8220;Barb, you write about the United States extensively and with a lot of detail, but you also draw in comparisons from other countries, you talk about other strongman leaders, countries who have transitioned from a mostly democratic form of government to a less democratic form,&#8221; said host Rachel Maddow. &#8220;Do you believe the U.S. is particularly vulnerable to disinformation or that we&#8217;re kind of unexceptional and it&#8217;s the same? We&#8217;re as susceptible to it as every other country?&#8221;
McQuade responded, &#8220;Actually, I think we&#8217;re more susceptible to it than other countries. That&#8217;s because some of our greatest strengths can also be our Achilles heel. So, for example, our deep commitment to free speech in our First Amendment. It is a cherished right. It&#8217;s an important right in a democracy, and nobody wants to get rid of it.&#8221;
&#8220;But it makes us vulnerable to claims that anything we try to do to regulate speech is censorship,&#8221; she said. &#8220;The Supreme Court has held that all fundamental rights, even the right to free speech, can be limited as long as there is a compelling governmental interest and the restriction is narrowly tailored to achieve that interest.&#8221;
&#8220;I think any time someone tries to do anything that might limit free speech, people claim censorship,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;Just look at the case the Supreme Court heard today about efforts by the states of Florida and Texas to prevent social media companies from moderating content online. And they call it censorship, that they&#8217;re trying to silence conservative voices. Of course, social media companies are private actors who are not bound by the First Amendment. So we need to have a conversation and common sense solutions to these things. Instead, we throw out terms like censorship, call each other names and use labels and we all retreat to our opposite sides. We need to be pragmatic and come up with real solutions. It is, I think, one of the things that makes America particularly vulnerable to disinformation.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
MSNBC’s Barbara McQuade: “Our First Amendment … makes us vulnerable to claims that anything we try to do to regulate speech is censorship.” <a href="https://t.co/MvoxGQr2yz">pic.twitter.com/MvoxGQr2yz</a>
&mdash; Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) <a href="https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1763247095236976647?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 29, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Barbara McQuade

Left-Wing Ex-Federal Prosecutor: First Amendment Makes U.S. ‘Vulnerable’, Harder To ‘Regulate Speech’

Left-Wing Ex-Federal Prosecutor: First Amendment Makes U.S. 'Vulnerable', Harder To 'Regulate Speech'

Censorship

MSNBC

CBS News President Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews will be honored as the recipient of an upcoming industry free-speech award — just weeks after the network booted veteran reporter <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/catherine-herridge-cut-from-cbs-amid-wave-of-layoffs-at-paramount-global-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Catherine Herridge</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cbs-seized-confidential-files-from-fired-reporter-who-was-pursuing-hunter-biden-story-reports" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confiscated her notes</a> and research.
Ciprian-Matthews is set to receive a <a href="https://www.rtdna.org/news/rtdna-announces-first-of-the-2024-first-amendment-award-honorees" target="_blank" rel="noopener">First Amendment Award</a> from the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) on March 9, less than one month after the network fired former Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge and seized her files — a move that sent shockwaves through media outlets nationwide — and then returned the files after intense backlash.
&#8220;Can&#8217;t make this up. CBS News fires @CBS_Herridge, then steals her notes, and in disgrace is forced to return them. A week later, the president of @CBSNews who signed off on that theft receives an industry free speech award,&#8221; Media Research Center President Brent Bozell posted via X.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Can&#39;t make this up. CBS News fires <a href="https://twitter.com/CBS_Herridge?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CBS_Herridge</a>, then steals her notes, and in disgrace is forced to return them. 
A week later, the president of <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CBSNews</a> who signed off on that theft receives an industry free speech award. <a href="https://t.co/km5O8sVVKd">https://t.co/km5O8sVVKd</a>
&mdash; Brent Bozell (@BrentBozell) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrentBozell/status/1762801853132054658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The seizure of Herridge&#8217;s files — which by most accounts was unprecedented — prompted backlash and even sparked a probe led by the House Judiciary Committee. CBS insisted in a letter to the committee that the files in question belonged to the network and there was &#8220;<a href="https://nypost.com/2024/02/28/media/cbs-insists-seizure-of-catherine-herridges-files-was-nothing-unusual/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nothing unusual</a>&#8221; about retaining them.
It wasn&#8217;t until several days had passed — and Herridge&#8217;s union SAG-AFTRA got involved — that CBS reversed position and returned some of the files.
&#8220;FILES UPDATE: CBS News returns hundreds of pages of reporting materials after @sagaftra intervened,&#8221; Herridge posted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://t.co/L5l5IKrohI">pic.twitter.com/L5l5IKrohI</a>
&mdash; Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBS_Herridge/status/1762255233583902778?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 26, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Herridge&#8217;s exit from CBS comes amid a First Amendment case in which she was ordered by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper to reveal a source and has refused to do so — and the case becomes even more complicated because the files CBS retained could potentially contain information such as confidential source names and contact information.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1700760801843000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
Ciprian-Matthews was also the subject of an internal probe by CBS parent company Paramount Global in 2021 after accusations of discriminatory hiring practices and claims that she intentionally &#8220;sidelined&#8221; white reporters. In one such instance, according to a <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/01/09/media/new-woke-boss-at-cbs-news-got-top-job-despite-hr-probe-sources/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the New York Post, Ciprian-Matthews allegedly replaced a white reporter with an African American reporter to handle coverage in the aftermath of the January 6th riot on Capitol Hill.

CBS News

CBS News Prez Will Get Free Speech Award Weeks After Confiscating Fired Reporter’s Research/Notes

CBS News Prez Will Get Free Speech Award Weeks After Confiscating Fired Reporter's Research/Notes

Media

Catholic leaders slammed the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday after the House Judiciary Committee <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fbi-interviewed-priest-choir-director-amid-probe-into-traditional-catholics-house-report-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discovered</a> federal agents interviewed a priest and a choir director as part of an investigation into so-called Radical-Traditional Catholics as potential domestic terrorists.
&#8220;The latest revelations only raise more questions about the illegitimate targeting of Catholics by the FBI,&#8221; CatholicVote President Brian Burch told The Daily Wire in an emailed statement. &#8220;We now know that the FBI effort involved at least four field offices, authorized the use of undercover agents to infiltrate Catholic parishes, and used a Catholic priest and a choir director to inform on one of their parishioners.&#8221;
The House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government launched an investigation into the FBI earlier this year after former agent-turned-whistleblower Kyle Seraphin leaked an internal memo from the bureau&#8217;s Richmond Field Office, which painted certain &#8220;radical-traditionalist Catholics&#8221; as violent extremists and proposed opportunities for the FBI to infiltrate Catholic churches as a form of &#8220;threat mitigation.&#8221;
&#8220;Despite every effort to downplay the significance of this abuse of power, the FBI still owes Catholics and all concerned Americans answers as to who was behind the effort to spy on Catholics, how far and wide this effort went inside the FBI, whether it is ongoing, and whether anyone has been held accountable,&#8221; Burch added.
Whistleblower disclosures in the report said FBI authorities interviewed a priest and choir director of The Society of Saint Pius (SSPX) — an international priestly society promoting traditional practices affiliated with a Catholic church in Richmond, Virginia, between November and December 2022.
Although federal agents refused to disclose the contents of the interviews, the committee noted the whistleblower&#8217;s allegations showed the FBI directly communicated with Catholic clergy and staff about parishioners practicing their faith around the same time the analysts started drafting the memorandum.
During a hearing on Tuesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray claimed that the interview of the priest and choir director was part of &#8220;an investigation of a specific individual who was amassing Molotov cocktails and posting about killing people. And it does not surprise me that there were people who knew that subject in that investigation.&#8221;
Likewise, the FBI <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fbi-interviews-priest-choir-director-investigation-individual-not-catholics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Fox News that the interviews highlighted by the committee’s report were conducted by the Richmond Field Office during an investigation of an individual allegedly threatening violence who has since been arrested. 
&#8220;The interviews were not conducted for the domain perspective as characterized by the report,&#8221; the FBI said.
Committee members found the memo sparked confusion among FBI employees after failing to define the meaning of &#8220;radical traditionalist Catholics&#8221; when preparing their anti-Catholic document, which the report said would likely still operate in the bureau&#8217;s systems without the revelations of whistleblower disclosures.
The report also discovered the memo circulated to numerous field offices around the country, including field offices in Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and Portland. The alleged findings appeared to contradict previous testimony from FBI Director Wray, who claimed the operation was limited to one office.
Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley pressed Wray about the memo&#8217;s alleged expansion during the Tuesday hearing. But Wray rejected the notion that other field offices were involved as &#8220;garble.&#8221;
&#8220;And let me explain why,&#8221; Wray said. &#8220;I mean, why I say that the only involvement of the two other field offices was the Richmond authors of the product, which included two sentences or something or thereabouts, referencing each of these other offices&#8217; cases. And they sent those sentences about the other office cases to them, not the whole product, and asked them, &#8216;Hey, did we describe your case right?'&#8221;
&#8220;That&#8217;s all the other offices had,&#8221; he added. &#8220;So it was a single field office product, and I stand by that.&#8221;
Additional findings in the report included the FBI labeled Americans who are pro-life, pro-family, and those who support the Church rejecting radical gender theory teachings as potential domestic extremists. Meanwhile, at least one undercover agent allegedly spied on Catholics at their religious services as the bureau attempted to develop sources among Catholic clergy and church leadership.
Ashley McGuire, a senior fellow at the Catholic Association and co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show, &#8220;Conversations with Consequences,&#8221; called the findings &#8220;a major wake up call to any and all Americans who care about basic civil liberties.&#8221;
&#8220;While Catholic Churches as well as pro-life pregnancy care centers are under constant attack from actual violent extremists, the FBI had the audacity to investigate and spy on those targeted by these crimes,&#8221; McGuire told The Daily Wire in an emailed statement. &#8220;The notion that traditional Catholics pose some kind of national threat is so absurd it exceeds even Hollywood&#8217;s imagination.&#8221;
&#8220;And yet the FBI, an agency designed to protect Americans and their rights, was spying on Catholics everywhere from their choir lofts to their rectories,&#8221; she added.
Almost immediately after the document leaked, FBI authorities spiraled into damage control and purged the ant-Catholic memo from its system, saying the bureau would &#8220;never conduct investigative activities or open an investigation based solely on First Amendment protected activity.&#8221;
&#8220;While our standard practice is to not comment on specific intelligence products, this particular field office product — disseminated only within the FBI — regarding racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism does not meet the exacting standards of the FBI,&#8221; a spokesperson told The Daily Wire. &#8220;Upon learning of the document, FBI Headquarters quickly began taking action to remove the document from FBI systems and conduct a review of the basis for the document.&#8221;
The FBI told Fox News that it conducted an internal review of the memo and found &#8220;no malicious intent to target Catholics or members of any other religious faith, and did not identify any investigative steps taken as a result of the product.&#8221;

Praying hands of woman with a cross on wooden desk

Catholic Leaders Slam FBI Over ‘Illegitimate Targeting” Of Catholics As Bureau Defends Its Investigation

Catholic Leaders Slam FBI Over 'Illegitimate Targeting” Of Catholics As Bureau Defends Its Investigation

Catholic

Christopher Wray

Federal agents interviewed a priest and a choir director as part of an investigation into so-called <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fbi-director-suspected-of-inconsistencies-in-anti-catholic-memo-testimony" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Radical-Traditional Catholics</a> as potential domestic terrorists, according to a new <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2023-12-04-the-fbis-breach-of-religious-freedom-the-weaponization-of-law-enforcement-against-catholic-americans.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the House Weaponization Committee.
The House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government launched an investigation into the FBI earlier this year after former agent-turned-whistleblower Kyle Seraphin leaked an internal memo from the bureau&#8217;s Richmond Field Office. The memo painted certain &#8220;radical-traditionalist Catholics&#8221; as violent extremists and proposed opportunities for the FBI to infiltrate Catholic churches as a form of &#8220;threat mitigation.&#8221;
&#8220;The FBI&#8217;s Richmond memorandum is a startling reminder that Americans&#8217; civil liberties and core Constitutional rights must be vigorously guarded against government overreach, including in this case from an overzealous law enforcement agency,&#8221; the committee wrote in the report.
Whistleblower disclosures in the report said FBI authorities interviewed a priest and choir director of The Society of Saint Pius (SSPX) — an international priestly society promoting traditional practices affiliated with a Catholic church in Richmond, Virginia, between November and December 2022.
The whistleblower disclosures revealed that the FBI interview was used to &#8220;inform on the parishioner under investigation&#8221; and that the memo would still operate in the agency&#8217;s systems, which lawmakers said violates the religious liberties of millions of Catholic Americans.
Although federal agents refused to disclose the contents of the interviews, the committee noted the whistleblower&#8217;s allegations showed the FBI directly communicated with Catholic clergy and staff about parishioners practicing their faith around the same time the analysts started drafting the memorandum.
The committee also claimed in the report that the FBI relied on at least one undercover agent to develop its assessment and proposed developing sources among the Catholic clergy and church leadership. The basis of the memo then relied on a single investigation into the Richmond Field Office&#8217;s area of responsibility which included a subject who ‘self-described’ as a ‘radical-traditionalist Catholic.'&#8221;
Lawmakers found that when FBI employees were preparing, editing, or reviewing the memorandum, they could not define the meaning of an Radical-Traditional Catholic, which the two co-authors sourced the idea from left-wing publications including the Southern Poverty Law Center, Salon, and The Atlantic.
FBI Richmond’s Special Agent in Charge Stanley Meador told the committee that the analysts who co-authored the Richmond memorandum had been employed with the FBI for approximately 20 years.
The FBI &#8220;abused its counterterrorism tools to target Catholic Americans as potential domestic terrorists,&#8221; according to the committee&#8217;s report.
Almost immediately after the document leaked, FBI authorities spiraled into damage control and purged the ant-Catholic memo from its system, saying the bureau would &#8220;never conduct investigative activities or open an investigation based solely on First Amendment protected activity.&#8221;
&#8220;While our standard practice is to not comment on specific intelligence products, this particular field office product — disseminated only within the FBI — regarding racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism does not meet the exacting standards of the FBI,&#8221; a spokesperson told The Daily Wire. &#8220;Upon learning of the document, FBI Headquarters quickly began taking action to remove the document from FBI systems and conduct a review of the basis for the document.&#8221;
But the committee said while the federal agency claims it does not categorize investigations as domestic terrorism based on religious beliefs, including Catholicism, the FBI-wide memorandum &#8220;did just that&#8221; and found that there &#8220;was no legitimate basis for the memorandum to insert federal law enforcement into Catholic houses of worship.&#8221;

FBI Interviewed Priest, Choir Director Amid Probe Into Traditional Catholics, House Report Says

Department of Justice

A gag order against former President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> related to his federal <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/2020-election" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2020 election</a> case has been paused by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals after Trump filed an emergency request on Thursday saying the order violated his First Amendment rights. 
The court issued an administrative stay, saying that the decision was made to give the judges more time to hear Trump’s arguments. The court <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-election-gag-order-lifted-appeals-speech-f0aeb12e64ee0b3bb7544d6949368653" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that the ruling “should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits.”
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-reinstates-gag-order-against-trump-in-federal-election-case" target="_blank" rel="noopener">had imposed</a> the gag order on Trump Sunday night after Trump criticized former chief of staff Mark Meadows. Chutkan is overseeing special counsel Jack Smith’s federal election case against Trump, who has denied any allegations of wrongdoing.
In their request to pause the order on Thursday, lawyers for Trump <a href="https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/appeals-court-stays-trump-gag-order-dc-election-case?utm_source=daily&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that &#8220;[n]o court in American history has imposed a gag order on a criminal defendant who is actively campaigning for public office — let alone the leading candidate for president of the United States.&#8221;
&#8220;The prosecution’s request for a Gag Order bristles with hostility to President Trump’s viewpoint and his relentless criticism of the government — including of the prosecution itself,&#8221; the request said. &#8220;The Gag Order embodies this unconstitutional hostility to President Trump’s viewpoint. It should be immediately stayed.&#8221;
In her decision to reimpose the gag order on Sunday, Chutkan claimed that Trump’s First Amendment rights must be limited because of the ongoing trial. 
“As this court has explained, the First Amendment rights of participants in criminal proceedings must yield, when necessary, to the orderly administration of justice,” she <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.258149/gov.uscourts.dcd.258149.124.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, adding later, “And contrary to Defendant’s argument, the right to a fair trial is not his alone, but belongs also to the government and the public.”
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
Chutkan issued a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-issues-gag-order-against-trump-in-federal-election-case" target="_blank" rel="noopener">narrow gag order</a> <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-releases-details-in-limited-gag-order-against-trump">against</a> Trump in October, restricting him from chastising prosecutors, court staff, and potential witnesses. The judge temporarily lifted the gag order at the request of Trump’s lawyers while they pursued an appeal.
Prosecutors soon <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24085250/show_temp-68.pdf">urged</a> her to reinstate the order, saying Trump went back to the sort of “targeting” it would prevent. As examples, the filing cited an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/prosecutors-accuse-trump-of-threatening-former-chief-of-staff-mark-meadows">“unmistakable and threatening message”</a> on social media about Meadows possibly testifying in exchange for immunity against prosecution and comments he made about his former chief of staff <a href="https://twitter.com/EdKrassen/status/1717190712633041168">to reporters</a> in New York. Trump also called Smith “deranged.”
On <a href="https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4292877-appeals-court-trump-gag-order-election-interference/?utm_source=hill_app&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_content=share-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tuesday</a>, the Trump team will have the opportunity to make their case against the gag order.
Daniel Chaitin contributed to this report.

Donald Trump Campaigns For President In Houston, Texas

Court Pauses Order Restricting Trump’s Speech About Federal Election Case

2022 Election

Donald Trump

Elections

Jack Smith

Mark Meadows

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said during an interview over the weekend that the state of Florida&#8217;s decision to push public universities to decertify student groups that expressed support for Hamas was not a First Amendment issue but rather an issue about violating laws related to providing material support to terrorist organizations.
DeSantis directed Ray Rodrigues, chancellor of the State University System of Florida, to send notices to the University of Florida and the University of South Florida notifying them that they must deactivate their chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) because they allegedly broke Florida laws about terrorism.
In response to the Palestinian Islamic terrorist attacks, “National Students for Justice in Palestine (National SJP) released a ‘toolkit’ which refers to Operation Al-Aqsa Flood as ‘the resistance’ and unequivocally states: ‘Palestinian students in exile are PART of this movement, not in solidarity with this movement,&#8217;” the letter said.
The letter noted that under Florida law, it is a felony to “knowingly provide material support . . . to a designated foreign terrorist organization. . .” Hamas is designated by the United States as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
DeSantis was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-orders-florida-colleges-to-shut-down-pro-palestinian-student-groups-that-expressed-support-for-hamas">asked</a> during an interview with Kristen Welker on NBC News&#8217; &#8220;Meet The Press&#8221; whether decertifying the groups constituted &#8220;cancel culture.&#8221;
&#8220;This is not cancel culture. This group, they themselves said in the aftermath of the Hamas attack, that they don&#8217;t just stand in solidarity that they are part of this Hamas movement,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And so you have a right to go out and demonstrate, but you can&#8217;t provide material support to terrorism. They&#8217;ve linked themselves to Hamas. And so we absolutely decertified them, they should not get one red cent of taxpayer dollars.&#8221;
&#8220;And we also have strong laws in Florida against fundraising for groups like Hamas, and we are enforcing those vigorously,&#8221; he added. &#8220;It&#8217;s not a First Amendment issue. That&#8217;s a material support to terrorism issue.&#8221;
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
When asked if he had any evidence that the group was providing material support for Hamas, DeSantis pointed to the group&#8217;s own words.
&#8220;Their own words are saying they&#8217;re part of this organization, that they don&#8217;t just stand in solidarity, that they don&#8217;t just support what they did, but that this is their movement, too,&#8221; he said. &#8220;So once you hitch your wagon to a group like Hamas, that takes you out of the realm of normal activity, and that&#8217;s something that we&#8217;re going to take action against. So we believe we&#8217;re totally justified within the law.&#8221;
&#8220;And I think things like this had been litigated time and again, but here&#8217;s the broader point: You know, are we just gonna commit suicide as a country and let groups metastasize who are openly siding with brutal terrorist organizations?&#8221; he concluded. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s a recipe for a successful country. I want to have a country where we&#8217;re protected from that stuff. So I think we made the right decision I stand by it 100%.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
DESANTIS on deactivating student groups who pledged material support to Hamas:
&quot;Are we just going to commit suicide as a country and let groups metastasize who are openly siding with brutal terrorist organizations? I don’t think that’s a recipe for a successful country….We made… <a href="https://t.co/0dYlVclH1g">pic.twitter.com/0dYlVclH1g</a>
&mdash; DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/DeSantisWarRoom/status/1718629655538720934?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 29, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

US-POLITICS-VOTE-REPUBLICANS

DeSantis On Decertifying Pro-Hamas Student Groups: This Is ‘A Material Support To Terrorism Issue’

Education

Florida

Hamas

Ron DeSantis

Menu