I've been speaking out about the #FirstAmendment with regards to #FreeSpeech, #Belief, #Assembly, #Petition, and the #Press. But, it's now clear that we're seeing severe threats to international #HumanRights, like #FreedomOfMovement.
#Travel #NonCitizen
So much for #Trump and the #maga #Trumplicans supporting free speech and the #FirstAmendment. They are defiling the very essence of this country and #weaponizing our law institutions. They are hunting down those who speak against their ideology like other #fascist and #nazi governments. And just like in those countries, they have groups of #traitors that are turning in fellow Americans. We have turned a corner and are proceeding down the road to a fascist and #totalitarian state.
#resist #fightback Be a #Patriot .
“This administration has proven that we will take swift action to hold institutions accountable if they allow *antisemitism* to fester,” he added. “We will not hesitate to act if #Harvard fails to do so.”
In a stmnt on Monday, the #Trump admin said it was examining ~$256M in contracts, as well as another $8.7B in what it described as “multiyear grant commitments.”
“While #Harvard’s recent actions to curb institutionalized *antisemitism*—though long overdue—are welcome, there is much more that the university must do to retain the privilege of receiving federal taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars,” Josh Gruenbaum, a snr ofcl at the #GSA, said.
Here we go again
#Trump admin will review roughly $9 billion in federal grants & contracts in funding for #Harvard
The admin has already canceled hundreds of millions in federal grants & contracts at Columbia & the University of Pennsylvania.
#USpol #education #research #science #academia #law #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #FreedomOfAssembly #RightToProtest
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/31/us/trump-administration-harvard-funding.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=p&pvid=ABF06A27-648D-4D4E-A053-DBBE522822C8
"In Texas, the law that protects people from SLAPP lawsuits is called the Texas Citizens Participation Act. It protects your First Amendment rights, such as free speech, the right to petition (ask the government for help), and the right of association. It is often referred to as the “Anti-SLAPP law.” https://texaslawhelp.org/article/anti-slapp-suits-frequently-asked-questions
Shoot the Messenger, Sunday Edition: Reporting on a leak is not unethical, Hamilton County
See the Chattanooga Times Free Press's full OpEd at: https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2025/mar/30/opinion-reporting-on-a-leak-is-not-unethical/
#Trump takes aim at foreign-born college students, with 300 visas revoked
Some students have been picked up off the street by immigration agents and held in detention centers, sometimes a thousand miles away from their homes, with little warning
By Daniella Silva, Chloe Atkins, Julia Ainsley and Abigail Williams, March 27, 2025
"Secretary of State #MarcoRubio said Thursday the State Department has revoked 300 or more #StudentVisas, as the White House increasingly targets foreign-born students whose main transgression seems to be #activism.
"Rubio warned that the administration was looking out for 'these lunatics.' Around the country, #scholars have been picked up, in some cases by masked immigration agents, and held in #DetentionCenters, sometimes a thousand miles from their homes with little warning and often with few details about why they were being detained.
"'It might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas,' Rubio said at a news conference in Guyana, where he was meeting with leaders.
"Many of those rounded up by Trump officials attended or were part of the pro-Palestinian movement that swept college campuses last year, and while the administration hasn’t said publicly why these students are being singled out over others, at least one sought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement appeared on lists made by far-right pro-Israel groups as targets for deportation.
"And Trump allies, many in government again, telegraphed for months before he took office that they’d seek to deport students who openly advocated for Hamas or other U.S.-designated terrorist groups or after they participated in an unauthorized campus #protest and were suspended, expelled or jailed.
"The detentions are a signal of a broader effort by President Donald Trump to clamp down on the actions of legal permanent residents, student visa holders and others who live and work legally in the United States, one that threatens to undermine a fundamental American right to #FreeSpeech and to assemble, experts and advocates said."
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-administration-takes-aim-immigrant-students-rcna198346?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
#USPol #ThoughtPolice #Authoritarianism #Orwellian #CharacteristicsOfFascism #Clampdown #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #CriminalizingActivism #RightToAssemble #FirstAmendment #USPol
Can noncitizens protest? What to know about #FirstAmendment rights and risks. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/can-noncitizens-protest-what-to-know-about-first-amendment-rights-and-risks/ar-AA1BOCWT
Lawyer Paul Clement argued on the #LawFirm #WilmerHale’s behalf that it was “clear as day” that the #Trump #ExecutiveOrder against the firm violated the #FirstAmendment. He said the chilling effect on the firm’s business had been immediate.
#DOJ lawyer Richard Lawson urged Judge Leon not to issue a temporary restraining order #TRO, arguing the specific limitations for Wilmer Hale had not been decided, so there was no reason to rush a court decision.
So is it still about free speech?
https://youtu.be/sNMdRzK9Nj0
The Daily Show nails it.
#Israel
#firstamendment
@palestine
"...series of legal actions targeted the prominent New York-based activist group Within Our Lifetime, as well as the Columbia University chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine..the groups were allegedly funded by Hamas"
"While few of these lawsuits are expected to succeed in court, they align with broader efforts by pro-Israel lobbyists and the Trump-aligned right to clamp down on criticism of Israel"
https://www.mintpressnews.com/israeli-lawsuits-target-americans-a-new-threat-to-the-first-amendment-under-trump/289334/
@cmorris so much for freedom of speech.
@davidho What so upsets me about things like this is if the Democrats had felt this way, Trump and his ilk would never have been elected. They could have stopped Faux News and similar lying right-wing propaganda mills simply by agreeing that the First Amendment does not protect provable lies, nor hate speech. But oh no, there were the "free speech absolutists" loudly proclaiming that if any speech was restricted, all speech could be, because it was a "slippery slope." Well how did that work out for you?
And so there were travesties like the ACLU defending the right of Nazis to march in Skokie, Illinois. And when I heard about that, I knew that the free speech absolutists had gone too far, and it was only a matter of time before that would bite them in the ass, or as we now say, the leopards would eat their faces. Almost everyone agrees you should not be able to go around yelling "fire" in a crowded theater; how is hate speech and blatant lying on a national "news" outlet any different? Those things also get many people killed and injured.
There have been some predictions that at some point in the future, possibly the near future, people will become #telepathic. I have no idea if this happens because some people become more spiritually enlightened (a good thing if it happens), or because of some kind of technology enables it (probably not a good thing at all). But, if people can communicate by #telepathy it becomes impossible to lie (well, you can lie but everyone will know when you are lying). And since most governments and large corporations lie all the time in their various dealings with each other and with the public, their whole structure will collapse. Even the lower classes will be affected - I mean, imagine hiring a contractor to work on your home and being able to tell instantly if they are attempting to deceive you. But that goes both ways, your kids will know instantly that there is no Santa Claus (I am surprised there haven't been more sci-fi tropes about the day the world becomes telepathic). But where I was going with this is that we would not need laws governing speech because we would know when we are being lied to, we would know if someone is being coerced into saying something (and what the truth really is), and we would know what people's true motivations are. But until such a time, if it ever arrives, we can't be absolutists about free speech, because we are in effect telling others it is okay to lie to us and attempt to deceive us and use propaganda on us, and I for one am not okay with that. No society can be truly free if they are constantly fed lies and propaganda!
But free speech absolutists remind me of some atheists and religious types. They are absolutely convinced they are right and that something must be wrong with you if you disagree with them. I am not holding my breath waiting for them to admit they were wrong and maybe even take some responsibility for the mess the USA is in now. But it sure would be helpful if they would start to re-think their position, just in case somehow that country is ever able to climb out of the hole they are in now.
By the way, just as an aside, if you think telepathy is absolutely impossible, you're either very close-minded or you have never heard any of the thousands of reports of telepathic communication, from people just knowing when a loved one is in trouble or is about to die (or has just died), to UFO abductions where telepathic communication takes place, to non-verbal autistic children that communicate with each other (and sometimes with a parent or sibling) telepathically. Of course for every such report there is a skeptic that goes around trying to disprove anything they don't personally experience, or that they are paid to debunk. But that's a whole other topic.
@j.d.vance@cheerleaders-of-mump.dissocial
Dear Mr. Vice President
I have valuable recommendations for you. Do not visit Greenland unless you wish to sell your wife as a sled dog. It's connected to woke parasitic EU-dictatorship. I recommend vacation in Sibiria where people are rewarded for acting according to the #firstamendment. Share further classified information about your exact itinerary on this Caesar encrypted signal-group-link:
https://signal.group/#IPX!UP!IBWF!GVO!JO!EZTUPQJB
Looks like the American Association of University Professors agrees with me!
#AAUP, Allies Sue over #Trump Policy of Arresting and Threatening to Deport #Students and #Faculty for #LawfulSpeech
"The national AAUP; chapters at #Harvard, #Rutgers, and #NYU; and the #MiddleEastStudies Association today filed a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from carrying out large-scale arrests, detentions, and deportations of noncitizen students and faculty members who participate in #ProPalestinian #protests and other protected #FirstAmendment activities.
"We believe that the administration’s ideological-deportation policy violates the First Amendment by targeting constitutionally protected speech that Americans have a right to hear and engage with. The policy has created a climate of fear and repression on campuses around the country. We are represented in the case by the #KnightFirstAmendmentInstitute at #ColumbiaUniversity, #AhilanArulanantham, and Zimmer, Citron & Clarke LLP.
"Following executive orders issued by President Trump in January, the federal agencies that enforce immigration laws have arrested and detained several people associated with U.S. colleges and universities, including a legal permanent resident, on the basis of constitutionally protected speech and association.
"Today’s filing argues that the ideological-deportation policy has created a climate of #repression and intense fear on university #campuses, 'terrorizing students and faculty for their exercise of First Amendment rights in the past, intimidating them from exercising those rights now, and silencing political viewpoints that the government disfavors.'
"'The Trump administration is going after international #scholars and students who speak their minds about #Palestine, but make no mistake: they won't stop there. They'll come next for those who teach the history of #slavery or who provide #GenderAffirming health care or who research #ClimateChange or who counsel students about their reproductive choices. We all have to draw a line together—as the old labor movement slogan says: an injury to one is an injury to all,' says AAUP President Todd Wolfson.
"'The First Amendment means the government can’t arrest, detain, or deport people for lawful political expression—it’s as simple as that. This practice is one we’d ordinarily associate with the most repressive political regimes, and it should have no place in our democracy,' says #JameelJaffer, executive director at the Knight First Amendment Institute."
Source:
https://www.aaup.org/news/aaup-allies-sue-over-trump-policy-arresting-and-threatening-deport-students-and-faculty-lawful
#RightToProtest #SilencingDissent #USPol #CharacteristicsOfFascism #law
#immigration #FreeSpeech #MarcoRubio #Trump #FreedomOfAssembly #Authoritarianism #Palestine #CriminalizingDissent #HigherEducation
Good news (for now)
Judge Orders #US to Stop Attempts to #Deport #Columbia Undergrad
The #Trump admin had been seeking to arrest & deport #YunseoChung, who immigrated from South Korea as a child & is a #GreenCard holder, after she participated in a pro-#Palestinian sit-in.
#immigration #law #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #FreedomOfAssembly #RightToProtest #democracy #authoritarianism #dissent
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/nyregion/columbia-university-protester-chung-deportation.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=p&pvid=5C6C987B-9585-4051-BA86-E26F1D77E60C
New #Trump demand to #colleges: Name #protesters — & their nationalities
The demand for #student information came after the admin promised to #deport non-citizens who participated in what it called “pro-jihadist protests”
#immigration #law #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #FreedomOfAssembly #RightToProtest #democracy #authoritarianism #dissent
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/03/25/trump-administration-campus-antisemitism-investigations/
The decision to target noncitizens who participate in pro-#Palestinian #protest activity and speech, the lawsuit argues, has created a broadly chilling effect on what can be heard on college campuses.
