This is the Daily Media Update published by the Institute for Free Speech. For press inquiries, please contact Luke Wachob at [email protected].  

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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.”

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.

Reason: The FBI Closely Tracked Aretha Franklin's Appearances at Civil Rights Events

.....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.

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.

Newsweek: Welcome To Two-Tiered America

.....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

.....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.

Common Dreams: 'Abhorrent and Anti-Democratic': Outrage as DNC Panel Blocks Vote on Dark Money Ban

.....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

.....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?

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

.....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.  

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