Tag: snitching

Texas Sheriff arrests vet for political meme, then sets up a ‘hotline’ to report more…

Texas is supposed to be the last place on earth where someone gets hauled off in handcuffs over a meme, right? Yet here we are… a military veteran in Hood County was just arrested for posting a satirical meme online, and the entire thing feels like a really scary, anti-American déjà vu after what happened to Douglass Mackey. The Biden regime slapped a felony on him for posting a hilarious anti-Hillary meme. Thankfully, a unanimous appeals court tossed out the conviction, but the message was clear: political humor is now a criminal offense if the wrong people get embarrassed.

And now it’s happening again. Only this time not in New York or D.C., but in deep-red Texas.

And to make this whole thing even more ridiculous, Hood County has now launched something straight out of a bad dystopian comedy: a “meme hotline” where residents can call the sheriff’s office to report each other for posting jokes online. Yes, a hotline… for memes.

Seriously, Texas, what the hell are you doing?

What’s happening in Hood County isn’t law enforcement. This is left-wing-style weaponization of political speech, and now, it’s being criminalized at the local level, and the fact that it’s happening in a conservative state should terrify everyone even more than the Mackey case did.

Keep reading

After Charlie Kirk: Decency and the response to murder

The murder of Charlie Kirk has provided some lamentable insight into our current national politics, particularly on the left.

The left’s response to the murder is remarkable in several respects.

The first is the vitriol, the unhinged glee that some, obviously not all, on the left demonstrated in the response to the tragedy.

At the beginning of The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky makes a helpful observation about human nature. The character Father Zossima, the Orthodox elder, remarks:

The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others.

…

The man who lies to himself can be more easily offended than anyone […] he will be the first to take offense, and will revel in his resentment till he feels great pleasure in it, and so pass to genuine vindictiveness.

Many on the left have been lying to themselves, or willingly indulging in lies that are told to them.

These lies concern the moral superiority of abstract ideologies, the base motives and bad character of those who disagree with them, and the wildly inflated sense of the popularity of their views.

They credulously embraced caricatures of what people like Mr. Kirk actually believed and held them so tightly as to be impervious to contrary evidence. They “reveled in their resentment.”

As a result, many on the left felt not only justified, but reassured, that they were not only morally justified, but were in the overwhelming majority, and that no untoward consequences could possibly result from rejoicing in an atrocity. They expected, at worst, approval of the substance and discomfort at the tone.

The worldwide response has instead left them confused and disoriented. Their callousness was not lauded for its edgy “truth.” Instead, many revelers who could be restrained neither by common decency nor common sense, found themselves fired from their jobs, mocked on social media, and the objects of censure and condemnation.

Lies that people tell themselves are the most difficult to dispel. Doing so not only corrects an inaccurate perception but wounds the pride, and can shatter the structure on which people build their self-esteem and sense of worth. It is difficult to admit that one’s sense of superiority was based on an untruth.

As a result, the secondary response in some precincts of the left has been to cast about for further fabrications from their shaken worldview.

They declaim their fear of an inchoate backlash from hateful hooligans. They charge that they are the victims of unjust cancel culture. The demand preemptive restraint, voluntary and otherwise, against their adversaries. Self-reflection seems not to have occurred to them.

The claim that those on the left who lose their jobs or face any kind of uncomfortable consequences for their behavior in the wake of Mr. Kirk’s death betrays a lack of understanding of a free society.

Keep reading

‘Expose Charlie’s Murderers’ Website Receives Over 50,000 Submissions of Leftists Celebrating Murder of Charlie Kirk — Declares Itself the ‘Largest Firing Operation in History’

A website dedicated to exposing the sick leftists celebrating the assassination of Charlie Kirk has received over 50,000 submissions.

Expose Charlie’s Murderers is seeking to hold leftists accountable for their violent rhetoric following his murder.

“This website is a lawful data aggregator of publicly-available information,” it states. “It has been created for the purposes of public education.”

“We seek to collect and archive instances of individuals promoting or glorifying of political violence, much like archive.org or archive.is.

“We firmly denounce all political violence and criminal activity.”

The website’s founders argues that “individuals with dangerous ideas shouldn’t be in positions where they can endanger others.”

“Those glorifying Charlie’s murder shouldn’t be doctors, law enforcement, lawyers, judges, or teachers.”

Keep reading

People are losing jobs due to social media posts about Charlie Kirk

Over thirty people across the country have been fired, put on leave, investigated or faced calls to resign because of social media posts criticizing Charlie Kirk or expressing schadenfreude about the conservative influencer’s assassination earlier this week, according to an analysis by NPR.

And more may be to come: some GOP lawmakers and officials are signaling their readiness to punish people for their speech. Conservative activists are collecting and publicizing social media posts and profiles that they say “celebrated” his death and are calling for them to lose their jobs.

“If they have their picture on their profile, even without a name, download the picture and reverse image search it,” posted right-wing influencer Joey Mannarino. “Cross-reference it with their LinkedIn profile and find their place of employment. Call the place of employment, leave Google reviews.”

Some Republican elected officials, along with right-wing influencers with large followings, including Laura Loomer and Libs of TikTok, the account run by activist Chaya Raichik, shared screenshots of offending posts and demanded action.

NPR has compiled a list from news reports of 33 people who have lost their jobs or are under investigations over their posts as of Friday. Most were public school teachers, with at least 21 educators in school districts across the country fired, put on administrative leave or placed under investigation by their employers. Firefighters, members of the military, a sports reporter, an employee of the Carolina Panthers and a city council official in Indiana have faced similar treatment or calls to resign.

Among the earliest and most prominent firings was MSNBC analyst Matthew Dowd, a former Republican political consultant to President George W. Bush. As news of a shooting at a Kirk event began to spread, Dowd made comments on live television that soon after attracted widespread backlash from conservatives.

Keep reading

Columbus Jewish organization reports anti-war protests to police after rise in antisemitism

After the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, antisemitism spiked in central Ohio. Jewish Columbus reported threats and harassment against Jewish people to police, but WOSU found the organization also reported protest activity that was critical of Israel.

Some believe Jewish Columbus’ actions blurred the lines between hate speech and protected speech by reporting both to police. The group defended its actions to WOSU at first, saying it didn’t believe the protests as a whole were antisemitic. Now, Jewish Columbus says it is reporting both antisemitic attacks on Jewish people and events it believes are against Zionism.

Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis when it invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Israel retaliated, invading the Gaza Strip.  In the nearly two years since, it is estimated that more than 60,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed.

Here in Columbus and around the U.S., people took to the streets to protest after Israel’s counterattack began, alleging Israel was committing genocide.

At this time Jewish Columbus, a branch of the Jewish Federations of North America, started seeing a rise in antisemitism. The group and its umbrella organization have increased security and established an intelligence apparatus across more than 100 locations in U.S. cities, including Cincinnati and Cleveland.

Jewish Columbus reported these antisemitic acts to police, but went a step further. WOSU found through a records request to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office that Jewish Columbus was also reporting any protest activity it thought was critical of Israel’s actions.

Jewish Columbus told police about Students for Justice in Palestine events at Ohio State University and Ohio Wesleyan University.

It also reported a candlelight vigil at the Ohio Statehouse hosted by the Noor Muslim Student group.

This small group of mostly young women and girls stated on Instagram in Nov. 2023 they were gathering for a silent tribute to the victims in Gaza.

There were no protests or speeches.

But Jewish Columbus reported the vigil to police anyway.

Keep reading

Anti-Marijuana Groups Narc On D.C. Dispensaries In Letter To Trump, Saying They Are Too Close To Schools

Anti-marijuana organizations are formally narcing on several locally licensed cannabis businesses in Washington, D.C.—sending a letter to President Donald Trump, the U.S. attorney general and a federal prosecutor that identifies dispensaries they allege are too close to schools despite approval from District of Columbia officials.

Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) President Kevin Sabet and the head of a D.C. organization called “1000 Feet” recently sent the letter to the White House and DOJ, saying they “support prioritizing public safety and reducing drug use in the District of Columbia.”

This comes as the president considers a proposal to federally reschedule cannabis, which he said last week will be decided imminently. The issue has divided key voices in the MAGA world, and SAM is among the most vocal opponents of the reform.

But as Trump has moved to federalize D.C. law enforcement by putting DOJ and the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in positions of power to subvert local police control, the letter from the anti-cannabis groups encourages the administration to address the “ongoing lawlessness” allegedly associated with certain marijuana businesses in the jurisdiction.

Specifically, they say that over the last two years, “the DC government has licensed marijuana retailers to operate in close proximity to several elementary schools and daycare centers, over the strenuous objections of parents and educators, and in blatant violation of the Federal Drug-Free School Zones Act.”

The groups said that while they were “pleased” to see former interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin “take initial steps against one of the worst offenders” by threatening a locally licensed medical marijuana dispensary with criminal prosecution back in March, “we have not seen any public progress since then.”

Martin, for his part, has since been tapped by Trump to serve as U.S. pardon attorney.

“We hope the initiative you announced this week will provide another opportunity for you to protect the District’s children by taking swift action to close down all the offending marijuana retailers near schools and to inform the DC government that any further licensing of retailers at locations in violation of the Federal Drug-Free School Zones Act will be treated as a criminal conspiracy,” SAM and 1000 Feet said in the letter, which was sent on Friday.

Keep reading

Minnesota’s COVID Snitch Line Exposed: Hundreds Turned in Neighbors for Going Outside!

In March 2020, the State of Minnesota opened a hotline for residents to report violations to Gov. Tim Walz’s (D) COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, social distancing guidelines and lockdown directives.

Through a Freedom of Information Act request, Infowars has exclusively obtained over 950 emails and phone calls that were sent in to Minnesota’s violation tip line, showing busybody residents reporting others for using city parks, attending drive-thru church services, and indeed for merely walking on the sidewalk.

The emails illustrate how the fear instilled by the media and corporate establishment resulted in neighbors turning against one another, eagerly buying in hook, line and sinker to the largest psy-op campaign ever waged on humanity.

Below are just a few emails we’ve reviewed that show the extent to which many went along with Gov. Walz’s request.

Beware: These people live among you.

In one of the more incredible emails, a woman reported her own 18-year-old brother for “going back and forth…between houses.”

Keep reading

Report Your Family For Wrong Think, Says German Government Initiative

Germany’s Interior Ministry, headed by Nancy Faeser – known for banning media outlets – and the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth have launched a project dubbed, “Advice Compass on Conspiracy Thinking.”

The center is there to provide advice to anyone who “suspect their friends or family members have fallen victim to conspiracy theories,” according to the Interior Ministry.

You can’t make this up, and Germany’s current authorities are no pioneers here. In one form or another, the “spying starts at home” policy – trying to get people to make the state’s population surveillance job easier – has existed before.

But, worryingly, that was/is under some of the most repressive regimes in recent history.

As serious as the matter is, hilariously enough, the German word for “advice” happens to be – “rat.”

“Holistic” is how Faeser chose to describe this approach and the inclusion of the “advice” center into Germany’s overall fight against what the authorities consider to be extremism and disinformation.

Keep reading

State ‘Bias Response Hotlines’ Encourage People To Snitch on Their Neighbors for ‘Hate Speech’

By the end of this year, as many as 100 million Americans could live in a state where they can be reported to a “bias response hotline” for a wide range of protected speech. While states claim that these reporting mechanisms don’t punish people for non-criminal speech acts, many also claim to attempt to stop hateful speech incidents “before they occur.”

According to a recent report in The Washington Free Beacon by reporter Aaron Sibarium, these reporting systems allow people to “snitch” on their neighbors. Connecticut allows people to report “hate speech” they “heard about but did not see.” Vermont encourages citizens to call the police over “biased but protected speech.” Philadelphia actually directs people to give the names of alleged offenders so they can be contacted.

“If it is not a crime, we sometimes contact the offending party and try to do training so that it doesn’t happen again,” Saterria Kersey, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, told Sibarium.

Oregon’s Bias Response hotline encourages citizens to report not only hate crimes, but also “non-criminal hostile expression motivated in part or whole by” someone’s protected identity. These incidents can include “hate speech,” “displaying hateful symbols or flags,” and “telling or sharing offensive ‘jokes’ about someone’s identity.”

What happens when someone calls this hotline? The Free Beacon called the hotline and reported a fictional incident—a man, identifying himself as a Muslim said that he felt “targeted” by his neighbor’s Israeli flag. 

“Within 20 minutes, a hotline operator had logged the display in a ‘state database,’ referred to it as a ‘warning sign,’ and suggested installing security cameras in case the situation ‘escalates,'” Sibarium writes. “He also informed this reporter that, ‘as a victim of a bias incident,’ he could apply for taxpayer-funded therapy through the state’s Crime Victims Compensation Program, which covers counseling costs for bias incidents as well as crimes.”

Even though nothing criminal had allegedly occurred—or even something that could be fairly described as objectively offensive—the operator nonetheless treated the report with immense gravity.

“Even if it is not very explicit, we go with whatever the victim is experiencing,” the operator said during the call. “And if your sense is that this is based on discrimination against your faith or your country of origin…that’s how I would document it.”

Keep reading

Share an ‘Offensive’ Joke? A State Bureaucrat May Ask You To Attend Sensitivity Training

We’re all familiar with the time-honored creed, “Snitches get stitches.” In states like Oregon, it turns out they get taxpayer-funded therapy. 

That’s according to the Free Beacon‘s Aaron Sibarium, who investigated the “bias response hotlines” popping up in states and cities across the country. In Oregon, for example, “trauma-informed operators” overseen by the state’s justice department field calls outlining “bias incidents”—cases of “non-criminal” speech allegedly motivated by prejudice or hate, like “racist images” or “offensive ‘jokes’ about someone’s identity.”

Sibarium called the Oregon hotline to report a fictitious incident in which he said he was a Muslim concerned about the “genocide” in Gaza and felt “targeted” by an Israeli flag on his neighbor’s front door. It took just 20 minutes for an operator to log the incident in a state database as a “warning sign.” The operator went on to suggest installing security cameras. “He also informed this reporter that, ‘as a victim of a bias incident,’ he could apply for taxpayer-funded therapy through the state’s Crime Victims Compensation Program, which covers counseling costs for bias incidents as well as crimes,” Sibarium writes.

Similar reporting systems are up and running in Connecticut, Vermont, Philadelphia, and Maryland. In the City of Brotherly Love, residents can fill out an online form that asks for the “exact address,” name, and gender identity of the alleged offender. The city uses that information to “contact the offending party and try to do training so that it doesn’t happen again,” according to a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations.

“The systems, which include hotlines and online portals, resemble the bias response teams commonplace on college campuses, which allow students to report each other, anonymously and without verification, for ideological faux pas,” Sibarium notes. “What sets the state-run systems apart are their ties to law enforcement.”

Keep reading