Here is the Heritage Take on the top issues today.Please reply to this email to arrange an interview.
Twitter Bans Conservatives, Including Heritage Foundation Expert, One Week Before
Midterm Elections <[link removed]> – Since the election of Donald Trump, Twitter has aggressively targeted and deplatformed young conservatives. It is no coincidence that just a week from Election Day, the leftists at Twitter executed one of the largest conservative ban-waves in the history of the platform. In the middle of the night, Twitter removed conservative political activists and ordinary Americans across the country to further silence conservative voices. Twitter’s targeting of conservative users this close to Election Day is a deliberate political action. Mass bannings have become standard practice against conservatives on Twitter, and Elon Musk needs to immediately put an end to this. Heritage Expert: Jake Denton <[link removed]>
Leaked Documents Outline DHS’s Plans to Police
Disinformation <[link removed]> – CISA is responsible for cybersecurity and critical infrastructure, not the content of information. Per the U.S. Constitution, which states Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, no part of the federal government should be the arbiter of truth. CISA was created to secure the .gov domain and to communicate with the private sector regarding critical infrastructure. There are valid needs for those functions. The problems arose, however, when CISA staff left their lanes of authority. Preventing such gross abuse requires transparency, oversight, ethical leaders, and accountability. DHS is not prioritizing protecting Americans from foreign terrorism. The Biden Administration has opened our southern border, allowing aliens from over 150 nations into the U.S. An additional 1 million known gotaways have entered the U.S. and the administration admits to apprehending about 100 aliens on the terror watchlist. Heritage Expert: Lora Ries <[link removed]>
Nonparty Subpoenas: The Latest Lawfare Threat to the First
Amendment <[link removed]> – Nonparty subpoenas violate the First Amendment rights of targeted organizations to speak, advocate, associate, and petition the government freely. The actions of nonparties who are not legislators or government officials and have no power or authority to pass or enforce legislation are immaterial and irrelevant when the issue is a particular statute’s constitutionality or legality. Neither the government nor private litigants have a compelling interest that justifies such discovery demands and the violation of fundamental rights. Nonprofit membership organizations, regardless of ideology, should vigorously contest these types of subpoenas and discovery requests by immediately filing motions to quash them. Any attempt to reach an accommodation or negotiate a compromise will only encourage the use of such tactics in future cases. Heritage Expert: Hans von Spakovsky <[link removed]>
The Biden Administration’s electric vehicle gambit is illegal and costly <[link removed]> - Congress has repeatedly rejected radical climate change <[link removed]> policies that would increase the price of energy. Now, President Joe Biden is circumventing the legislative branch by moving to force people into using electric
vehicles <[link removed]> . This plan would impose the costliest regulatory burden ever inflicted on the public. The vast majority of people don’t support phasing out and eventually banning the sale of internal combustion engine cars. At a time of record high inflation <[link removed]> and a very expensive new and used vehicle market, these regulations raise the cost of gas-powered cars to push people toward EVs that are, on average, $18,000 more. The opening gambit of Biden's plan has three main components. First, the Environmental Protection Agency promulgated new emissions standards for cars and trucks — standards that can be met only by electrification of at least 17% of the new fleet. Second, the EPA and the Department of Transportation worked together to bless California’s reimplementation of its separate (and illegal) greenhouse gas vehicle emissions standards and electric car mandate. Third, the Transportation Department set fuel-economy standards that cannot be achieved without electrification and that explicitly incorporate California’s electric car quota into their “baseline.” Manufacturers that don’t sell enough EVs have to buy credits or pay fines, increasing the price of all nonelectric cars. The EPA estimates the price hikes will reach thousands of dollars per car. Heritage Expert: Derrick Morgan <[link removed]>
Twenty-First Century Illicit Drugs and Their Discontents: The Scourge of Illicit
Fentanyl <[link removed]> – Opioids can relieve pain, but they also can destroy life. Fentanyl, however, does not give many users the opportunity for redemption; it kills in a split second. Worse still, fentanyl can kill unwitting or novice users. Opioid users once had the chance to survive a poor choice—to walk away after youthful experimentation or to hit rock bottom after being hooked but then realizing that they needed to turn their lives around. Now, users frequently do not get that second chance. People need to be educated about the dangers of fentanyl and persuaded not to run the risks it poses, and the sale of this poison to our fellow citizens must be stopped. Heritage Expert: Paul Larkin <[link removed]>
It’s Time for
Supreme Court to End Racial Preferences in Education <[link removed]> – American colleges and universities should welcome all students who have the academic capabilities, interests, and values to perform well in their institutions. They should reject racial preferences in favor of genuine diversity—a student body admitted based on merit that has a wide range of life experiences and political and philosophical viewpoints, all of which contribute to a robust climate of free expression and academic inquiry on campus. The college admissions process should be focused on bringing the best and brightest minds to an institution, not making elite liberals feel good about their ‘racial sensitivity,’ which is all the euphemistically named ‘affirmative action’ does. Universities like Harvard and the University of North Carolina have set up racial spoils systems that discriminate against some students and benefit others based on the color of their skin. These odious admissions policies violate the basic civil rights of students and must finally be ended by the Supreme Court. Barring the door to Asian-American students today is just as wrong as barring the door to African-American students was 60 years ago. Heritage Experts: Lindsey Burke <[link removed]>, Mike Gonzalez <[link removed]>, and GianCarlo Canaparo <[link removed]>
-
