When Social-Media Blocking Goes Political

I’ve talked about free speech often in the past. I even said, quite recently and quite angrily, that getting blocked on social media is not a violation of your free speech.

However… it would appear that some Twitter users have found an exception… and I’m not sure I can think up an argument against this…

President Donald Trump may be the nation’s tweeter-in-chief, but some Twitter users say he’s violating the First Amendment by blocking people from his feed after they posted scornful comments.

Lawyers for two Twitter users sent the White House a letter Tuesday demanding they be un-blocked from the Republican president’s @realDonaldTrump account.

“The viewpoint-based blocking of our clients is unconstitutional,” wrote attorneys at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University in New York.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

[Read more…]

Orange Pope-Wannabe Chips Away at Separation of Church and State

HEY ATHEISTS! SKEPTICS! ARE YOU OUT THERE? IS THIS AN ISSUE YOU’RE WILLING TO CARE ABOUT?

Fucking Asshole-in-Chief fucker has now given churches the freedom to be openly political without losing their tax-exempt status.

Declaring he was giving churches their “voices back,” President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at easing an IRS rule limiting political activity for religious organizations — a move that fell far short of a more sweeping order some supporters had expected.

As he marked the National Day of Prayer at the White House on Thursday, Trump signed the order on religious freedom, which directs the Treasury Department to not take “adverse action” over churches or religious organizations for political speech. The rule has rarely been enforced. Still, opponents said the restrictions have a chilling effect on free speech.

[Read more…]

Not-My-President Directly Involved in Hunt for Tweeter

Remember that tweeted photo comparison of the crowd at President Obama’s inauguration and the crowd at Agent Orange’s inauguration?

Left: An aerial view of President Barack Obama's inauguration on Jan. 20, 2009 in Washington, D.C. Right: An aerial view of President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017 in Washington, D.C. National Park Service

Left: An aerial view of President Barack Obama’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2009 in Washington, D.C. Right: An aerial view of President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017 in Washington, D.C. National Park Service

From Time…

President Donald Trump was “directly involved” in the quest to find the staffer from the National Park Service who retweeted a comparative photo of his inauguration crowd with that of his predecessor, former President Barack Obama.

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Twitter Sues Agent Orange

No one is safe from being sued.

From Variety…

Twitter has sued the Trump administration over attempts of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to unmask the identity of users behind an account critical of the government. The account in question, @ALT_USCIS, is one of several alt-government accounts which were launched after the new administration took office and proceeded to silence some official Twitter government accounts.

The lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of California, alleges that the DHS tried to use a “limited-purpose investigatory tool” to find out who is behind the account in question, which has been critical of the immigration policy of the current administration. “The rights of free speech afforded to Twitter’s users and Twitter itself under the U.S. Constitution include a right to disseminate such anonymous or pseudonymous free speech,” the lawsuit argues.

The lawsuit goes on to argue that many of these alt-government accounts, including @ALT_USCIS claim to be run by government workers, in this case employees of the U.S. Customs and Immigration Services. These users have taken to Twitter to voice their dissent with official government policies.

[Read more…]

House Intelligence Chair Doesn’t Think Trump Tower Was Wiretapped

Well yeah. I think anyone could have told you that…

From NPR…

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes says he doesn’t believe “there was an actual tap of Trump Tower,” contrary to claims made by President Trump.

And the top Democrat on the House committee, Adam Schiff, told NPR’s All Things Considered “there’s no evidence” to support Trump’s claim.

Trump alleged that his predecessor, President Barack Obama, tapped his phone at Trump Tower in a pair of tweets earlier this month.

Trump has not produced any evidence to back his assertion.

[Read more…]

Everything is “Fake News”

Remember how Rachel Maddow had a couple pages from Tax-Dodger-in-Chief’s 2005 tax returns, and talked about it on her show?

This is also “fake news”… according to the aforementioned Wannabe Tan Ruler, anyways… (from the New York Times)

President Trump on Wednesday denounced as “fake news” the release by journalists of a portion of his 2005 income tax form, just hours after his administration appeared to confirm the accuracy of the documents.

Two pages from the president’s 2005 tax returns were disclosed Tuesday evening by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow after being mailed to David Cay Johnston, a former New York Times reporter. They show that Mr. Trump paid $38 million in federal income taxes on reported income of $150 million, an effective tax rate of 25 percent.

[Read more…]

White House Censors Media

Looks like a clickbait title, doesn’t it?

But… it’s kinda true…

From The Hill…

The White House blocked a number of news outlets from covering spokesman Sean Spicer’s question-and-answer session on Friday afternoon.

Spicer decided to hold an off-camera “gaggle” with reporters inside his West Wing office instead of the traditional on-camera briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room.

Among the outlets not permitted to cover the gaggle were news organizations President Trump has singled out for criticism, including CNN.

The New York Times, The Hill, Politico, BuzzFeed, the Daily Mail, BBC, the Los Angeles Times and the New York Daily News were among the other news organizations not permitted to attend.

Journalists from several right-leaning outlets were allowed into Spicer’s office, including Breitbart, the Washington Times and One America News Network.

A number of major news organizations were also let in to cover the gaggle. That group included ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, Reuters, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal and McClatchy.

Reporters from The Associated Press and Time magazine were allowed into the gaggle but refused to attend.

I think we now know which news organizations are trustworthy… well… for varying definitions of “trustworthy”…

Okay okay…

At least we know which news outlets are being honest about the Cheeto Fascist Administration, anyways…