The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech September 13, 2022 Click here to subscribe to the Daily Media Update. This is the Daily Media Update published by the Institute for Free Speech. For press inquiries, please contact Luke Wachob at [email protected]. We're Hiring! Senior Attorney – Institute for Free Speech – Washington, DC or Virtual Office .....The Institute for Free Speech is hiring a Senior Attorney with a minimum of seven years of experience. The location for this position is either at our Washington, D.C. office or remotely anywhere in the United States. This is a rare opportunity to work with a growing team to litigate a long-term legal strategy directed toward the protection of Constitutional rights. We challenge laws, practices, and policies that infringe upon First Amendment freedoms, such as speech codes that censor parents at school board meetings, laws restricting people’s ability to give and receive campaign contributions, and any intrusion into people’s private political associations. You would work to hold censors accountable; and to secure legal precedents clearing away a thicket of laws, regulations, and practices that suppress speech about government and candidates for political office, threaten citizens’ privacy if they speak or join groups, and impose heavy burdens on political activity. Biden Administration National Review: The Biden Administration Is Engaged in a Massive Censorship Campaign By Kenin M. Spivak .....The evidence shows that at least 80 senior officials have participated in a concerted federal enterprise involving at least eleven federal agencies, including the White House, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Office of the Surgeon General, Census Bureau, and FBI. The manifestly unconstitutional public–private partnership between the administration and Big Tech disregards Chief Justice Warren Burger’s warning that it is “axiomatic that a state may not induce, encourage or promote private persons to accomplish what it is constitutionally forbidden to accomplish.” Responses to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and emails produced in discovery show that White House, DHS, and HHS officials flagged specific content and examples of content for censorship, including factually accurate dissenting views, under the guise of suppressing “domestic terrorism.” Congress Politico: Ted Cruz amendment blows up journalism antitrust bill By Josh Sisco and Brendan Bordelon .....Supporters of a bill meant to give news organizations greater leverage against the giant tech companies were forced to temporarily withdraw the measure Thursday, raising new doubts about one of Congress’ prime efforts to check Silicon Valley’s power. Two hours into its Thursday markup, Republicans inserted provisions designed to limit the platforms’ abilities to moderate content, over the objections of lead sponsor Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who then withdrew the bill. She said she fully plans to move the bill forward in a bipartisan way. Privacy Reason: The FBI Closely Tracked Aretha Franklin's Appearances at Civil Rights Events By C.J. Ciaramella .....The FBI kept close tabs on R&B legend Aretha Franklin and her activity in the civil rights movement, newly released Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) records show. The 270 pages of declassified FBI memos, released on the bureau website's FOIA vault, include a series of reports on the "communist infiltration" of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), whose first president was Martin Luther King Jr. The bureau said SCLC leadership "has taken a 'hate America' and a 'pro-communist' line, which the mass of Negroes will not recognize but which they will blindly follow." … The FBI's close attention to Franklin was not unusual. In fact, the Queen of Soul is in good company. During the 1960s and '70s, the FBI tracked the comings and goings of many artists, musicians, academics, and authors, especially black celebrities and leaders. The FBI's paranoia even extended to comedians. The Media New York Times: A Slain Reporter, a City of Sin and a Politician Charged With Murder By Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Mike Baker .....After four decades of surviving reporting on the most unsavory characters in a city with a reputation for mob-linked murders, there was little reason to think that Mr. German, 69, would be in danger when he turned his attention earlier this year to an obscure government office where some employees claimed their boss was a bully. The article didn’t even run on the front page. But the authorities now say that the boss in that story, Robert Telles, went to Mr. German’s home on a quiet cul-de-sac this month and stabbed him to death, months after the exposé that may have cost him re-election was published. Mr. Telles has not yet entered a plea, and his lawyer has not responded to requests for comment... Journalists often face intense criticism, but Mr. German would be only the ninth journalist over the last three decades to be killed in the United States in response to their work. Free Expression Newsweek: Welcome To Two-Tiered America By Josh Hammer .....Social media de-platforming and algorithmic manipulation remain huge problems demanding clear, forthright public policy responses, but the same underlying sentiment—the arrogant and malicious impulse to subjugate and "other"-ize the "deplorable" half of American society, humiliating them into second-class subjection—is already playing out in other industries, as well. De-banking—the politicization of lines of credit and the severing of basic financial services to "controversial" conservatives—is already very much here to stay. Just ask (recent congressional candidate) Laura Loomer about PayPal, or ask the spirited Canadian truckers (remember them?) about GoFundMe. In recent years, moreover, conglomerates such as Bank of America have stopped lending to certain firearms manufacturers—the very defenders, in this case, of the Second Amendment. Other examples abound. New York Times: Censorship Is the Refuge of the Weak By The Editorial Board .....Fights about free speech can feel rhetorical until they are not. Here’s what censorship looks like in practice: A student newspaper and journalism program in Nebraska shuttered for writing about pride month. The state of Oklahoma seeking to revoke the teaching certificate of an English teacher who shared a QR code that directed students to the Brooklyn Public Library’s online collection of banned books. A newly elected district attorney in Tennessee musing openly about jailing teachers and librarians. Candidates and Campaigns Common Dreams: 'Abhorrent and Anti-Democratic': Outrage as DNC Panel Blocks Vote on Dark Money Ban By Jake Johnson .....A Democratic National Committee panel on Thursday refused to allow a vote on a resolution aimed at banning dark money from the party's primary process, a decision that sparked outrage from progressive DNC members and others who backed the proposal. Former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner, a DNC member who faced an onslaught of dark money during her recent campaigns for a U.S. House seat, told Common Dreams that "it's really a sad state of affairs" for the DNC Resolutions Committee to "not even bring this to the floor so that the members of the DNC can weigh in." ... Led by Nevada Democratic Party Chair Judith Whitmer, the resolution would have prohibited dark money funding "during any and all Democratic primary elections" and established "procedures for the investigation of 'dark money' use by candidate committees as well as possible disciplinary action." Wall Street Journal: Democrats for MAGA Republicans By The Editorial Board .....New Hampshire primary voters will go to the polls Tuesday, and Democrats are again running TV ads to help a Trumpy Republican candidate for Senate. President Biden is warning that ultra-MAGA Republicans threaten American democracy. Why won’t he tell his party to quit elevating them? The States Montana Free Press: Super PAC faces new allegations in Montana By Alex Sakariassen .....An out-of-state political organization found to have violated Montana campaign finance law continues to face questions about its activity in three Republican legislative races during the 2022 primary election, even as it pursues legal action against the state’s top political practices enforcer. Sludge: Maine’s Biggest City to Vote on Clean Elections Measure By David Moore .....With campaign spending on the rise in their city’s elections, voters in Portland, Maine will decide this November on a ballot question that aims to level the playing field for local office seekers. The ballot question, called Clean Elections, would create a voluntary public campaign financing program for candidates running for municipal office in Portland—one similar to a well-established program offered to candidates for state office in Maine. If approved, the Clean Elections program would make Portland the first municipality in Maine to offer public funding for candidates. The measure would also ban all candidates from taking corporate contributions, prohibit entities under foreign influence from making expenditures related to ballot questions, and enhance transparency of campaign contribution information. Read an article you think we would be interested in? Send it to Tiffany Donnelly at [email protected]. For email filters, the subject of this email will always begin with "Institute for Free Speech Media Update." The Institute for Free Speech is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that promotes and defends the First Amendment rights to freely speak, assemble, publish, and petition the government. Please support the Institute's mission by clicking here. For further information, visit www.ifs.org. 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