Tag: political correctness

UK free speech crackdown sees up to 30 people a day arrested for petty offenses such as retweets and cartoons

Bernadette Spofforth lay in jail on a blue gym mattress in a daze, finding it difficult to move, even breathe.

“I just closed down. But the other half of my brain went into Jack Reacher mode,” she said, referring to the fictional action hero. “Every single detail was in this very vivid, bright, sharp focus.”

She remembers noticing that you can’t drown yourself in the toilet, because there’s no standing water in it and the flush button is too far to reach if your head were in the bowl.  

She’d end up being detained for 36 hours in July 2024. Three girls had just been murdered in Southport, England, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party. But Spofforth was not under suspicion for the crime.

Instead, horrified, and in the fog of a developing tragedy, she’d reposted on X another user’s content blaming newly arrived migrants for the ghastly crime — clarifying in her retweet, “If this is true.”

Hours later she realized she may have received bad information and deleted the post — but it had already been seen thousands of times. 

The murders resulted in widespread civil unrest in the UK, where mass migration is a central issue for citizens. Four police vehicles arrived at her home days later. Spofforth, 56, a successful businesswoman from Chester, was placed under arrest.

“We’re a year on now and I can honestly tell you that I don’t think I will ever recover,” she told The Post. “I don’t mean that as a victim. Those poor children were victims. But I will never trust anything the authorities say to me ever again.”

Her story is one repeated almost hourly in the UK, where data suggests over 30 people a day are arrested for speech crimes, about 12,000 a year, under laws written well before the age of social media that make crimes of sending “grossly offensive” messages or sharing content of an “indecent, obscene or menacing character.”

Social media continues to be flooded with videos of British cops banging on doors in the middle of the night and hauling parents off to jail—all over mean Facebook posts and agitated words on X.

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Shopify Reimposes Content Restrictions Through Shop App, Reviving Ban on “Hateful” Content

Shopify has reintroduced restrictions on certain types of merchandise, targeting what it calls “hateful content.”

This marks a significant shift back toward censorship, though the company has avoided framing it that way.

The change comes more than a year after Shopify eliminated similar content bans in what was then seen as a move toward supporting free expression in commerce.

Recently, the company updated a help page related to its Shop app and payment system to include a ban on products promoting “hateful content, violence, gore, profanity, or offensive content.”

This revision, made sometime after May, and noticed by Bloomberg, applies specifically to the Shop sales channel.

While Shopify’s main platform-wide acceptable use policy still does not include a hateful content clause, this new rule effectively reintroduces content control through a different path.

The company had previously removed its ban on hateful content in July 2024.

That decision appeared consistent with CEO Tobi Lütke’s long-standing defense of open commerce.

In a 2017 blog post, Lütke wrote, “commerce is a powerful, underestimated form of expression.” He went on to say, “We don’t like Breitbart, but products are speech and we are pro free speech,” and added, “To kick off a merchant is to censor ideas…When we kick off a merchant, we’re asserting our own moral code as the superior one. But who gets to define that moral code?”

Rather than restoring the original company-wide policy, Shopify has now imposed restrictions within a specific tool. This segmentation allows the company to present itself as a neutral platform while still controlling what merchants can sell. In practice, it results in censorship through back-end enforcement.

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Media Hides Gender Identity and Skews Data in Cases Involving Trans Perpetrators

After a transgender individual killed two people and injured 17 others in a shooting at a Minnesota Catholic school on August 27, it took several hours before social media users uncovered the perpetrator’s identity using Department of Justice and other public law enforcement records. Mainstream outlets suppressed this fact.

Conservative commentator Andy Ngo tweeted: “Today’s killing of Christian children at a church in Minneapolis occurred in the context of a surge in far-left trans propaganda encouraging Trantifa and other leftists to take up arms to kill transphobes and ‘fascists.’ Their targets: Christians and conservatives. I have been warning and reporting on this phenomenon for years and am called a liar by liberal media, and targeted with death threats by the far-left.”

This reflects a broader trend: transgender identity is often omitted when individuals are perpetrators, while their victimization receives extensive coverage. Numerous websites track violence against LGBTQ people, but almost none record violence committed by them. In cases involving gender, the media will frequently refer to a man dressed as a woman simply as a woman, or vice versa, omitting the fact that the person is transgender.

The Washington Examiner highlighted this double standard, noting that “The media have bent over backward to downplay, or even refuse to report entirely, the fact that the shooter had been ‘identifying’ as a gender not actually her own” and that “The message is clear: The media will bend over backward to kowtow to transgender ideology when it benefits the gender bender yet will also do backflips to hide a transgender status if somebody might draw negative inferences.”

This bias is reinforced by the way data is collected. There are extensive official and NGO databases tracking violence against transgender people, such as Human Rights Campaign reports, FBI hate crime statistics, and other NGO monitoring systems, but there is no comparable official system tracking cases where transgender individuals are perpetrators. Instead, information relies on “networked agencies and journalists to correctly identify victims’ gender identities,” leaving systematic gaps whenever the offender is transgender.

Ironically, while there is also comprehensive data on transgender suicides, these reports consistently suppress the fact that many occur after individuals have undergone surgical transition, undermining the narrative that surgery reliably improves mental health and stability. This asymmetry in reporting and data collection creates a skewed picture that amplifies victimhood while obscuring cases that challenge prevailing narratives.

One of the most common talking points is the “Do you want more dead kids?” narrative, used to argue that children must transition and that schools should not be required to inform parents. The claim is that if kids who want to transition are denied the opportunity, they will inevitably commit suicide.

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Ontario teachers union hands out awards for activism, not math or science

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (EFTO) has handed out more than a dozen awards but not one recognized classroom excellence in teaching math, literacy, science or pedagogy without emphasizing a progressive activist lens.

This month, the union announced its 2024–25 award recipients, honouring “outstanding contributions.” Every academic category from curriculum development to children’s literature was tied to activism, equity, or social justice.

A closer look shows that the “academic” or “creative” awards were overwhelmingly for work that embedded activism into academics. Literature awards went to projects advancing social justice themes, curriculum awards highlighted equity-focused resources, and even environmental education was framed through climate justice, elevating union-aligned activism as the highest professional achievement.

Roughly two-thirds of all awards celebrated work in anti-racism, anti-oppression, DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), or other progressive initiatives, while the rest were awarded for service to the union. No recognition was given for improving literacy, numeracy, or classroom learning outcomes.

Teachers’ unions exist to protect the labour rights of members. As such, their core responsibilities to collective bargaining, safeguarding against unfair discipline, and lobbying for manageable class sizes and working conditions. In Ontario, the ETFO has broadened that role into one that functions as a political and cultural actor inside the education system. Its public campaigns, professional development programs, and awards now consistently emphasize anti-racism, anti-oppression, 2SLGBTQ+ issues, climate change, and decolonization.

Recognizing traditional teaching skills was not on the agenda. True North asked the ETFO why none of this year’s awards recognized classroom excellence in math, literacy, science, or pedagogy unless explicitly tied to progressive political causes. The union did not respond.

The union has received negative public feedback in recent months over its focus on activism. At its Annual General Meeting in August, the ETFO delegates passed a motion to develop teaching resources addressing anti-Palestinian racism. Seventy-one per cent supported the measure, which was intended to affirm Palestinian identity in schools and equip educators to confront bias.

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DOJ Drops DEI Case Against St Louis Brothers After TGP Reporting

The DOJ has dropped its case against two brothers who were targeted by the Biden regime based on a DEI program ran out of the City of St. Louis. 

TGP reported 10 days ago on a case involving DEI in St. Louis.

Under the watch of pro-BLM radical mayor Tishaura Jones, St. Louis incurred the highest murder rate in the country, and the steepest population loss as families left the city by the thousands to escape the war zone atmosphere. Things were so bad that the state had to step in and take control of the city’s police force.

But what were Mayor Jones and the Democrats who ran the city focused on? Not crime, or development, or quality of life – They focused on pushing Reparations, Closing prisons, Installing a “Deputy Mayor for Racial Equity”, and creating a Rube-Goldberg-machine DEI program that encourages graft and grinds development to a halt.

Even though Jones was tossed on her ear in a historic landslide defeat in April—losing by 30 points—progressive prosecutor Hal Goldsmith is still pushing to send minority builders to jail for the “crime” of trying to navigate the city’s ridiculous DEI maze.

The Case Against Brothers Sid Chakraverty and Vic Alston

A building company owned by brothers Sid Chakraverty and Vic Alston stepped up to develop housing in blighted areas of St. Louis.  Even though the brothers are themselves racial minorities and worked with a number of minority- and women-owned subcontractors on the buildings, progressive crusader Goldsmith and the DOJ indicted them on fraud charges for the alleged “crime” of not filling out their DEI reports accurately.

Let’s be clear: the city got what they wanted. Brand-new quality buildings in blighted areas. No money misused. No investors robbed. The only “victim” even alleged is the DEI bureaucracy—the St. Louis Development Corporation—charged with administering the racial quota system.

However, progressive prosecutor Goldsmith (below), and former mayor Tishaura Jones were obsessed with “racial justice” at the expense of real justice. In a similar prosecution from a few years back Goldsmith, described the DEI program as intended “to right the wrong … of years and years of racism” and that the City should be “merciless” in enforcing it.

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How colleges hide quotas, California’s deadly economic model and other commentary

Campus watch: How colleges hide quotas

“The demographic makeup of the class of 2028” — the first admitted after the Supreme Court’s racial-preferences ban — “suggests that at least some colleges were playing games rather than obeying the Court’s edict,” reports Naomi Schaefer Riley at Commentary.

At schools like Princeton, Harvard and Yale, the racial make-up changed only slightly or not at all, likely because they used proxies for race, such as information about the challenges applicants faced based on their schools and neighborhoods — info admissions offices get via Landscape, a tool provided by the College Board, the nonprofit that runs the SATs and AP exams.

“The College Board is colluding in the creation of a complex new system for schools to identify the race of a student without explicitly asking for it.” Universities need to be held “to account.” 

“Lots of well-intentioned political leaders . . . think it’s a great idea” to move city elections to “coincide with the year we pick presidential candidates,” but “I don’t,” warns New York magazine’s Errol Louis.

“National political dynamics would inevitably cause vital city issues unique to New York to get swallowed, distorted, or ignored.” “Imagine trying to help voters focus on strictly local matters . . . while national candidates are spending hundreds of millions of dollars” on “ads for and against sweeping” national proposals. This is exactly why city elections got moved to odd-numbered years in the first place.

“New York is better off deciding local issues without a lot of political noise coming from — or intended for — other places.”

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George Washington University Faces Pressure To Become ‘Sanctuary Campus’

According to Campus Reform, “More than 45 student groups at George Washington University (GWU) signed a petition calling on the school administration to declare the school a ‘sanctuary campus’ for illegal immigrants.”

Like much of academia, GWU is a hotbed of open borders liberalism.

In this specific case, the petition was launched by The GW Socialist Action Initiative.

The group, according to Washington Free Beacon, issued demands for the university, “among the demands were banning federal immigration enforcement officials from entering campus and refusing to cooperate with government surveillance or deportation efforts.”

The Socialist radicals also issued a threat that “any deal that GW could reach with the Trump Administration will harm student life and wellbeing.”

These demands were not without precedent at this university. Previously, GWU’s chapter of Students For Justice In Palestine made a similar demand on May 3rd, “calling on the administration to bar Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and reject compliance with federal deportation orders.”

Students For Justice In Palestine also called President Trump’s policies a “terror campaign” and said the university was taking “blood money” by agreeing to comply with federal immigration law.

In yet another example of irrational intersectionality Students for Justice In Palestine circulated a petition saying the University’s silence in the face of federal intimidation is “violence against its noncitizen community members.”

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White DEI staffer settles discrimination suit against UW-Eau Claire for $265,000

University of Wisconsin leaders recently resolved a lawsuit brought on by a white diversity, equity and inclusion staffer who alleged she was discriminated against because of her race.

Rochelle Hoffman, former assistant director of the Multicultural Student Services at the UW-Eau Claire, and the UW Board of Regents ended the three-year-old dispute by settling the complaint, Wisconsin Public Radio reported.

“Under the terms of agreement, both Hoffman and regents stipulate that the $265,000 payment ‘is not to be construed as an admission of liability’ or wrongdoing and is intended only to ‘avoid litigation and buy their peace,’” WPR reported earlier this month.

Hoffman said in a statement: “Despite facing unlawful discrimination in that DEI role as a white woman, I remain steadfast in my belief that high-quality, accessible education — grounded in data and responsive to a changing workforce — is essential for all learners.”

Hoffman is now listed as an employee at Western Technical College, and spokespersons for UW-Eau Claire and the UW Board of Regents declined to comment to WPR.

Hoffman had claimed the public university became a “hostile environment” and there are “blatant actions of racial discrimination against white folks” like herself, The College Fix previously reported in January 2024 shortly after she filed her lawsuit.

“On a regular basis there are great educators that are told they shouldn’t occupy multicultural space, to check their white privilege, passed over for jobs for an outside candidate of color, and reminded they are ‘inherently racist’ because they are white,” Hoffman had alleged.

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Supreme Court Allows Trump Admin To Revoke DEI-Related NIH Grants

The Supreme Court voted 5–4 on Aug. 21 to allow the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to cancel hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants linked to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

The new ruling clears the way for the funding reductions while litigation over the grants continues in the lower courts.

The justices filed five separate opinions explaining their votes.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett voted to allow the grants to be cut.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Chief Justice John Roberts voted to deny the government’s request to rescind the funding.

The high court said it acted because the federal government faces the possibility that the grant monies, once paid out, may not be recovered.

Moreover, “the plaintiffs do not state that they will repay grant money if the Government ultimately prevails.”

The case is known as National Institutes of Health v. American Public Health Association.

The Department of Justice filed an emergency application with the nation’s highest court late last month, asking the justices to block a ruling by Boston-based U.S. District Judge William Young, who found the cancellation was unlawful and ordered the government to restore the funding.

NIH began taking steps in February to end the grants that conflict with President Donald Trump’s policy priorities.

The NIH is the world’s largest government funder of biomedical research.

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REPORT: Muslim Student Was Exempted From Suspension in Loudoun County Locker Room Case Where Boys Objected to Presence of Female

A group of boys at a grade school in Loudoun County in Virginia were recently suspended from school because they objected to a female student in their locker room who identifies as male.

The female student even took pictures in the locker room but the boys were suspended for objecting. The case is outrageous.

The Gateway Pundit reported on this story:

The radical madness in Loudoun County, Virginia, just hit a new low. Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) has decided to SUSPEND two boys at Stone Bridge High School, not because they misbehaved, not because they broke the law, but because they dared to ask why a girl was in the boys’ locker room.

7News reported earlier this year that LCPS launched a Title IX investigation against the boys after they were caught on video asking the obvious question: Why is there a girl in the boys’ locker room?

That video, however, wasn’t recorded by the boys; it was recorded by the female student who identifies as male. A direct violation of LCPS policy, according to the news outlet.

Yet instead of disciplining the rule-breaker, the school launched a full-blown investigation against the boys themselves.

The school’s Title IX Office determined the boys were guilty of “sexual harassment” and “sex-based discrimination.”

Their punishment? A 10-day suspension, a no-contact order with the female student, forced meetings with administrators, and a permanent smear on their academic records that could destroy their college prospects.

Now it is being reported that one of the boys was exempted from the suspension. He happens to be a Muslim.

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