Tag: wrongthink

German Police Raid a Libertarian’s Home for the Crime of Calling Civil Servants “Parasites”

A new insane German speech crime investigation just dropped.

On September 29th of this year, a German man of libertarian persuasion known only by the pseudonym Damian N. tweeted the following:

No, anyone who is financed by the state pays no net taxes; they live off taxes: every civil servant, every politician, every employee in a state-owned enterprise, everyone who is subsidised and financed by the state. Not a single parasite pays any net taxes.

You can find the tweet here; as I write this, it has a grand total of 402 views and 10 likes.

No matter: yesterday morning, police acting on behalf of the Ulm public prosecutor’s office raided Damian’s home. He is suspected of the crime of inciting hatred (in violation of Section 130 of the German Criminal Code) for his rough remark about government “parasites”.

Apollo News reports:

“At almost exactly 6am, my doorbell rang. I went to the intercom and heard: ‘Police, please open the door, we have a search warrant,’” N. recounts.

“They then gave me a choice: ‘Either you unlock your cell phone and give us the PIN, and we’ll take the cell phone with us, or we’ll take everything.

“Under pressure, I naturally cooperated, unlocked my cell phone, and gave them the PIN,” he said. The officers then took Damian N. to the police station for identification procedures. “The whole programme,” said N.: “Weight, height, photos from many angles, and all the biometric data from my hands. I felt like a serious criminal.” The police also asked for a blood sample – “for your DNA,” as one officer is reported to have said. N. refused. “I thought I hadn’t heard right.”

The identification procedures – roughly comparable to a police booking in the United States – were likely illegal in this case. Damian N. further claims that the police produced no search warrant and provided no receipt for his confiscated phone, which would represent a further violation of the law. Before leaving, an officer instructed our suspected speech criminal to “think carefully about what you post in future”, because “you must realise that you are now under observation”.

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‘Free to express opinions’: Oregon district pays $650,000 to settle with educators who objected to trans lessons

Schools ‘can’t retaliate against speech simply because they disagree with what’s said.’

An Oregon school district has agreed to pay $650,000 to settle with two educators who were punished, then fired, for speaking out against the injurious transgender agenda the district was adopting.

The trans ideology as promoted by Joe Biden and his administration for years includes giving chemicals to children to delay puberty, then doing mutilating body surgeries on the child.

Grants Pass, Ore., educators Katie Medart and Rachel Sager had launched a grassroots movement called “I Resolve” to speak out on a school gender identity education policy, and to offer alternatives that would allow teachers to continue teaching without submitting their religious beliefs to the social agenda.

And one that would respect the rights of parents to know what their children were being given in school.

They posted a video on their own website promoting their beliefs and efforts.

Subsequently, Grants Pass School District 7 officials suspended them, then fired them.

“Educators are free to express opinions on fundamental issues of public concern—like gender identity education policy—that implicate the freedoms of teachers, parents, and students,” said Mathew Hoffman, of the ADF, which represented the teachers along with the Pacific Justice Institute.

“The Grants Pass School District is taking the right step by acknowledging that teachers don’t give up their First Amendment rights when they set foot on school property. Public schools can’t retaliate against speech simply because they disagree with what’s said.”

Sager and Medart have worked in the education field for many years, including at North Middle School in Grants Pass. Sager served as assistant principal, and Medart taught science there, the legal teams explained.

Their legal action charging the school violated their free speech, religious freedom and equal protection rights was settled with the district agreeing to pay $650,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees.

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Florida Probes JPMorgan Over Truth Social Debanking

Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier has opened a major investigation into JPMorgan Chase after disclosures that the bank severed ties with Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the company behind the free speech social media platform Truth Social, and may have shared sensitive data with the Biden administration’s Justice Department as part of the “Arctic Frost” investigation.

In a formal notice, Uthmeier stated that JPMorgan’s conduct “may implicate numerous Florida criminal and civil antifraud laws and de-banking prohibitions,” and directed the bank to preserve all documents and communications related to the matter.

We obtained a copy of the letter for you here.

The Arctic Frost probe was initially presented as a limited inquiry into President Donald Trump’s activities following the 2020 election.

It has since expanded into a wide-reaching operation involving numerous Republican lawmakers, conservative groups, and individuals.

Reports indicate that federal agents issued secret subpoenas to financial institutions and technology companies, demanding extensive amounts of private and financial information.

JPMorgan’s involvement came to light when Devin Nunes, CEO of Truth Social and Chair of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, appeared on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo on November 9. During the interview, Nunes revealed that JPMorgan had “inexplicably debanked” TMTG as the company was preparing to go public in early 2024.

He suggested that the timing was connected to the Justice Department’s broad subpoena requests and criticized both the bank and federal officials for what he described as politically motivated actions that may have violated the law.

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J.P. Morgan Quietly Helped Jack Smith Target Trump Media

The weaponization of federal power has reached a new level. 

In a shocking revelation, Special Counsel Jack Smith secretly subpoenaed J.P. Morgan Chase for the private banking records of Trump Media and Technology Group—despite the company not existing at the time of January 6. 

The move, uncovered by Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes, represents yet another case of the Justice Department extending its political reach far beyond reason or legality.

Trump Media became a public company in 2024, years after the events that Smith’s investigation supposedly focused on. 

Yet, Smith’s “Arctic Frost” operation went after Truth Social’s bank records as though it were somehow connected to the Capitol protests. 

That alone raises the question: what possible justification could exist for subpoenaing a company that didn’t exist at the time of the alleged crime? 

None—unless the motive was political.

As Nunes explained in his interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, the subpoena was not only unjustified but also secret. 

Trump Media was never notified. Even more concerning, J.P. Morgan Chase—one of the largest banks in the world—complied without question. 

For a company headquartered in Florida, such cooperation with an unfounded federal demand may have violated both state and federal laws. Yet the bank went further.

At the height of Trump Media’s public offering in early 2024—just as Truth Social was preparing to go public and raise $250 million—J.P. Morgan abruptly “debanked” the company. 

That decision, coming amid active cooperation with the Biden Department of Justice, effectively sabotaged a major free speech enterprise. 

It was a clear act of corporate compliance with political intimidation.

J.P. Morgan later told Fox News that it does not close accounts for political reasons.

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JPMorgan Discloses Government Probe Into Debanking Practices

US regulators are examining whether JPMorgan Chase has denied customers fair access to banking, as pressure grows over debanking decisions that were made against conservative figures, according to reporting from Financial Times and the company’s 10-Q filing.

In its quarterly filing, the bank noted it was “responding to requests from government authorities and other external parties regarding, among other things, the firm’s policies and processes and the provision of services to customers and potential customers”.

JPMorgan linked the scrutiny to an August executive order from Donald Trump directing regulators to review possible “politicised or unlawful debanking”. The bank said related inquiries include “reviews, investigations and legal proceedings,” without identifying the agencies involved.

Bank of America has similarly reported responding to government demands about “fair access to banking.” Industry lobbyists argue that regulatory rules around politically exposed persons and “reputation risk” have pushed banks to deny certain customers.

Recall, just yesterday, we noted that a top bank watchdog was making sure big banks have finally ditched debanking policies. You remember those, right? We sure do. It happened around the same time Google, Paypal and Amazon all banned us due to our (correct) take on the origins of Covid-19 and because they didn’t like our (correct) take on the BLM movement.

For those that missed it, a slew of banks under the Biden administration outright cancelled people’s accounts and didn’t allow them access to a bank account based on the industry they worked in, or many times their political views (surprise, none of them were Democrats).

Jonathan Gould, head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, told a conference that supervisors are double-checking banks really did stop blacklisting sectors like firearms from banks, according to Reuters.

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Antifa-Linked Leftist Arrested for Hockey Stick Attack on University of Colorado TPUSA Chapter Secretary

Boulder police have arrested 36-year-old Taylor James Rose of Arvada, Colorado, for assaulting the University of Colorado Turning Point USA chapter secretary with a hockey stick while on rollerblades.

The unprovoked attack, which the victim described as “politically motivated,” occurred just after 7 p.m. on October 23.

The victim, Nathaniel Ellis, a CU Boulder student, was riding his bike when Rose allegedly called him a “fascist” before striking him with the hockey stick.

Rose was arrested on Thursday and charged with second-degree assault, a felony.

Deputy District Attorney McKenna Mayfield explicitly noted the incident was a “politically motivated unprovoked attack.”

Police spoke to a second person of interest, a rollerblader seen with Rose shortly before the assault, who was observed posting flyers near the scene. He is not currently a suspect and is cooperating with detectives.

In a press release about the case, the City of Boulder briefly summed up the incident and charges, but added, “To protect the integrity of this active investigation and future prosecution, the Boulder Police Department is unable to release more specifics at this time.”

According to independent reporting from AntifaWatch, the attack followed the doxxing of Ellis by local Antifa groups who were demanding that he was a “Nazi.”

Rose has allegedly been associated with Denver Communists, where he appeared to introduce himself as an anarchist from Arvada in chat logs discussing protests.

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Will The AfD Party Be Banned In Germany?

There are once again efforts to ban the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the Bundestag, with the far-left Social Democrats (SPD) leading the way. However, there is some difficult math facing the proponents of an AfD ban, which makes it unlikely — but not impossible — for the party to be banned.

In order to understand why a ban is unlikely, let us first look at what would actually happen if a ban of the AfD went forward.

The AfD is currently the most popular party in the country, according to multiple polls, scoring between 25 and 27 percent of the vote. This alone makes a ban unthinkable to many, but the German establishment does not especially care what the electorate thinks on a number of key issues, so why not just ban the party?

For starters, and most importantly, a ban of the AfD would radically reshape the German electorate in favor of the left. This would translate into the Christian Democrats (CDU) losing a massive amount of power, and potentially being relegated to the political dustbin. Due to this cold, hard reality, a ban could be suicidal for the CDU.

How one local elections tells us about the federal election

What happened in the local mayoral election in Ludwigshafen tells us what the likely outcome of an AfD ban would be for the country at the federal level. In Ludwigshafen, the AfD’s Joachim Paul was leading the polls to become mayor before he was banned from running through backroom bureaucratic channels, a move later confirmed by judges during a number of appeals. The judges all argued Paul would have to challenge the ban after the election. Paul is still filing legal actions against the decision, but the outcome of the appeal could take months or even years.

Regardless of the outcome of Paul’s appeal, the election had some interesting outcomes.

First, the voter participation rate crashed to a record low of just 29.3 percent. In 2017’s mayoral election in Ludwigshafen, the then-SPD candidate Jutta Steinruck won with 60.2 percent participation. That means voter turnout was cut in half from that election.

That is not all. For those who did vote, many of them appear to have submitted “spoiled” ballots. A record-high number of ballots were ruled invalid, at 9.2 percent. Eight years ago, that number was just 2.6 percent. The number of “spoiled ballots” jumped by nearly 400 percent.

If this same outcome occurred at the federal level, including a dramatic crash in the voter participation rate as AfD supporters boycott the election, it would be a disaster for the CDU’s electoral chances.

The way the German system works means that the pool of right-wing voters would shrink dramatically, leaving CDU voters and the left as the only remaining voting pool. However, this remaining, much smaller pool, would then feature a dramatically larger share of left-wing voters consisting of the SPD, the Greens, and the Left Party.

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Jailed in America for Free Speech

In the aftermath of the murder of Charlie Kirk, many folks who dared to express views of him and his work outside the mainstream lost their jobs, professional standing and State Department visas as they were fired or otherwise disciplined by employers or bureaucrats who concluded that anti-Kirk views could harm the employers’ businesses or were inconsistent with institutional values.

All discipline based on speech needs to be scrutinized strictly. Yet, even in states with strong public accommodations laws — laws that generally protect free speech in the workplace and in public places — at will employees can generally be disciplined for expressive activities that their bosses reasonably fear may impair the product or services they were hired to produce or deliver, or undermine the values or message of the institution with which they are affiliated.

Thus, reasonable fears of the loss of business or charitable donations due to the anti-Kirk public sentiments may lawfully result in silencing or firing those employees.

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Prosecutors Drop Charges Against Tennessee Man Over Facebook Meme

Last month, Tennessee authorities arrested a man for posting a Facebook meme, a clear violation of his First Amendment rights, and held him on a $2 million bond. This week, prosecutors dropped the case, but that doesn’t negate the weeks he spent in jail on a bogus charge.

As Reason previously reported, police arrested 61-year-old Larry Bushart for posting a meme on Facebook. In a thread about the murder of Charlie Kirk, Bushart posted a meme with a picture of President Donald Trump and the quote “We have to get over it,” which Trump said after a January 2024 shooting at Perry High School in Perry, Iowa.

Sheriff Nick Weems of nearby Perry County said Bushart intentionally posted the meme to make people think he was referring to Perry County High School. “Investigators believe Bushart was fully aware of the fear his post would cause and intentionally sought to create hysteria within the community,” Weems told The Tennesseean.

On September 21, deputies arrested Bushart at his house and booked him on a charge of Threats of Mass Violence on School Property and Activities, a felony that carries at least a year in prison. In body camera footage posted online by Liliana Segura of The Intercept, Bushart is incredulous when presented with the charge. “I don’t think I committed a crime,” he tells the officer, jokingly admitting that “I may have been an asshole.”

“That’s not illegal,” the officer replies as he leads Bushart into a cell.

Unfortunately, it was no laughing matter: A judge imposed a $2 million bond. Getting out on bail would require Bushart to come up with at least $210,000. According to the Perry County Circuit Court website, Bushart had a hearing scheduled for October 9, where he could file a motion for a reduced bond, but a court clerk told Reason that the hearing was “reset” for December 4. As a result, Bushart sat in jail for weeks.

Right away, it should have been clear how flimsy the case was. But the sheriff doubled down.

As Segura reported at The Intercept, Weems personally responded to people on Facebook suggesting Bushart was arrested because authorities misread a picture that briefly referenced a prior news event on the other side of the country. “We were very much aware of the meme being from an Iowa shooting,” Weems wrote. But it “created mass hysteria to parents and teachers…that led the normal person to conclude that he was talking about our Perry County High School.”

“Yet there were no public signs of this hysteria,” Segura notes. “Nor was there much evidence of an investigation—or any efforts to warn county schools.”

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Ted Cruz EXPLODES on Rogue Activist Judge Boasberg — Demands Immediate IMPEACHMENT After Secret Subpoena of Senators’ Private Phone Records and Barring AT&T from Notifying Them

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, erupted Wednesday in a fiery press conference, calling for the immediate impeachment of U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, an Obama appointee, after revelations that the activist judge signed an order secretly authorizing the seizure of his private phone records and other GOP records while blocking AT&T from notifying them.

Cruz revealed during the press conference that the Biden DOJ, under the direction of former special counsel Jack Smith, had targeted him and eight other Republican senators in a blatant fishing expedition.

The subpoenas, issued as part of the sham “Arctic Frost” investigation tied to President Trump’s rightful challenge of the 2020 election fraud, sought cellphone data that Cruz insists is protected under the Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution.

Ted Cruz:
“The Biden Justice Department signed off on issuing subpoenas for the phone records of at least nine U.S. senators. Twenty percent of the Republicans in the United States Senate were the target of this fishing expedition. They did so in complete contravention of the Constitution—of separation of powers, of the Speech and Debate Clause, of free speech, of basic rights of privacy.

This is an executive who believes it is justified in spying on their opponents in the legislature because they’ve convinced themselves the ends justify the means.

I want to talk to you about one of those subpoenas. One of those subpoenas went from Jack Smith to AT&T, seeking my cell phone communications. It went to AT&T, and I actually want to commend AT&T for doing the right thing. AT&T is based in Texas. AT&T looked at that subpoena, and they went to their legal counsel and said, “What should we do with this subpoena?” And their legal counsel said, “You cannot comply because this is protected by the Speech and Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution.”

And so AT&T declined to comply—did not hand over my cell phone records. Now, one might ask: ordinarily, a phone company being asked to hand over the phone records of a sitting senator would notify that senator.”

Judge Boasberg, notorious for his leftist activism and nationwide injunctions against President Trump’s America First agenda, slapped a gag order on AT&T, barring the company from alerting Cruz and others to the subpoena for at least a year.

In his order, Boasberg ludicrously claimed there were “reasonable grounds” to believe disclosure would lead to “destruction of or tampering with evidence, intimidation of potential witnesses, and serious jeopardy to the investigation.

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