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Nick Pacilio, the former press secretary to Kamala Harris, recently chosen as former Vice President Joe Biden’s running mate, has reportedly secured a communications role at Twitter where he could be part of the decision-making process when censoring tweets by President Donald Trump.

In a recent article, National Review reporter David Harsanyi noted that Nick Pacilio, Kamala Harris’ former press secretary, had been hired to a communications role at Twitter. Pacilio’s hiring was first noticed when he tweeted about the removal of a tweet posted by the official account of President Trump’s re-election campaign.

Federalist co-founder Sean Davis tweeted that Pacilio was hired to police President Trump’s tweets:

Harsanyi notes in his article that Twitter alleges that Pacilio is not involved directly in the decisions to remove tweets from the President and his team, but Pacilio’s tweets about the removal of a tweet by the President’s re-election campaign do seem to imply he at the very least has knowledge of the reasoning for the removal.

Harsanyi questions whether people would have such little issue with the hiring of a conservative to police a Democrats tweets, writing: “But could you imagine what the nightly reaction on CNN and MSNBC would be if Mike Pence’s former spokesperson was seen censoring Joe Biden’s tweets during a presidential election? I have no doubt Democrats would be calling for congressional hearings.”

Harsanyi notes that Sarah Isgur, the former spokeswoman for Jeff Sessions, faced intense scrutiny when hired by CNN with the newsroom, which employs former Obama official Jim Sciutto, feeling “demoralized” by her hiring at the company. Harsanyi notes: “Conservatives, and it’s probably fair to say that Isgur is a pretty moderate one, aren’t welcome in mainstream journalism.”

Read the full article in the National Review here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com

ZIP |
August 13, 2020 3:32 pm

A petition circulated by students at Dartmouth College demands that administrators sanction the college’s conservative student newspaper over its publication of “hateful ideologies.” The petition calls on administrators to end the college’s official relationship with the paper.

According to a report by the College Fix, nearly 1,000 students at Dartmouth College have signed a petition that calls for sanctions on the college’s conservative student newspaper, the Dartmouth Review. Famous conservatives including Dinesh D’Souza and Laura Ingraham wrote for the paper during their undergraduate education.

The petition calls on the university to disassociate with the conservative newspaper. “At this time, we call on Dartmouth to decisively and publicly dissociate itself from the Dartmouth Review and to hold student staffers accountable for their bigotry,” the petition reads. “We further demand that the College compel this publication to cease and desist from using the Dartmouth name as part of its brand.” 

The petition references several pieces published by the Dartmouth Review that have been criticized by leftist students and faculty. The petition specifically mentions columns published as far back as the 1980s and 1990s. Moreover, the petition criticizes the paper for using a controversial Dartmouth symbol as part of its branding. The symbol, a 90-year-old weathervane, was removed in June after leftist students criticized its depiction of a Native American.

The Dartmouth Review and its associates have consistently spurned the College’s mission to embrace diversity and build a community of mutual respect. Their methods include divisive articles (see Keeney Jones’ blatantly racist 1982 piece “Dis Sho Ain’t No Jive, Bro” or any of these insidiously racist pieces of recent years), engagement in anti-LGBTQ bullying, antisemitic statements (including the portrayal of President Freedman as Hitler), harassment of Black professors, and repeated offenses against indigenous students. Even the Dartmouth Review’s current logo flaunts this position, featuring a scene from the recently-removed campus weathervane deemed by President Hanlon to “represent an offensive portrayal of a Native American.”

In a response to the petition, Dartmouth Review writer Brian L. Drisdelle argued that the petition is a form of “intellectual cowardice” that destroys academic freedom.

“It’s unfortunate that this type of intellectual cowardice has come about on campus, and I would argue that it is antithetical to the pursuits of liberal institutions such as our own wherein debate ought to be a fundamental in the search for higher truth,” Drisdelle wrote. “I guess in the post-modern age, truth no longer matters much.”

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.

A new poll published this week reports that a majority of conservative college students will self-censor this fall to avoid upsetting their leftist peers. By contrast, only 15 percent of Democratic respondents claim that they will censor their own political beliefs due to social pressures.

According to a poll conducted by the College Fix, 54 percent of conservative students will self-censor this fall due to social pressures from their leftist peers.

The poll asked student respondents if they will self-censor this fall to avoid upsetting their peers. “With the current political climate, do you expect to self-censor yourself in class this semester so your professors or peers don’t take offense at your ideas?” the poll reads.

Breitbart News reported in February on a column in the Atlantic that highlighted the tendency of conservative students to hide their political beliefs around their liberal peers. The column also highlighted a statistic that suggested that many liberal students now believe that it’s permissible for them to shut down speech that they find offensive.

Nicole Neily, the president of the First Amendment advocacy group Speech First, told The College Fix that liberal students are using various tactics to pressure their Republican peers into keeping their mouths shut.

“Beyond disciplinary proceedings, students also credibly fear their peers, who are increasingly intolerant of differing viewpoints,” Neily said. “Rather than leverage the tools of discussion, debate, and persuasion, students now seem inclined to strong-arm their peers into compliance through canceling and doxxing — allegations that last forever on the internet, and have the very real possibility of ruining someone’s future professional opportunities.”

Spencer Brown, the spokesperson for the Young America’s Foundation, claimed that the poll confirms that college campuses are a hostile environment for conservative students.

“The resulting institutional reality is one where trigger warnings and speech codes take precedence over the Constitution, where students are taught to say ‘ouch’ when they hear something they disagree with, and where—confusingly—both speech deemed unpopular and silence deemed inappropriate are treated as physical violence,” Brown explained.

Breitbart News reported in October 2016 on a survey conducted by Yale students that revealed that conservative perspectives were “unwelcome” on Yale’s campus. Over 75 percent of respondents agreed that Yale “does not provide a welcoming environment for conservative students to share their opinions on political issues.”

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.

Facebook announced this week that publishers with close ties to political entities such as PACs, politicians, and political parties will no longer be eligible for inclusion in Facebook News.

Facebook announced this week via its Facebook Journalism Project that any publishers that have close ties to political entities such as political parties, PACs, politicians, and other organizations that engage in influencing public policy or elections will not be eligible for inclusion in Facebook News.

The site further added that such publishers will not have access to news messaging on the Messenger Business Platform or the WhatsApp Business API. The company stated in its announcement that it believes that it’s important to ensure that these publishers are held to the same standards that political entities on Facebook are and must adhere to the authorization and disclaimer process for ads about social issues, elections, or politics in the Ad Library.

Facebook said in a statement:

Today, we’re introducing a new policy that will prevent publishers in the U.S. that are structurally tied to the types of entities described above from claiming the news exemption within the ads authorization process. Pages with these connections will still be allowed to register as a news Page and advertise on Facebook, but we’re implementing the following restrictions: news Pages with these affiliations will not be eligible for inclusion in Facebook News, and they won’t have access to news messaging on the Messenger Business Platform or the WhatsApp business API.

The site further stated that identifying politically connected publishers is a new process for the social media giant and the company will “learn and adapt as needed.” Facebook further promised to make ads on the platform more transparent and “protect the integrity of elections.”

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com

Rev. Franklin Graham tweeted Wednesday it “should be a great concern to all Christians” that pro-life leaders are labeling Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris as “the most pro-abortion … in the history of our nation.”

Graham tweeted a Breitbart News article containing the statements of many national pro-life leaders expressing that concern.

“As a follower of Jesus Christ, I am pro-life and believe every life is precious to God,” he said.

Within the last day, more pro-life leaders have added their concerns about the Biden-Harris pro-abortion rights ticket.

“I didn’t think Joe Biden could move much further Left on abortion — but he did just that in picking Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate,” expressed Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council Action.

He continued:

Vice President Biden has already endorsed taxpayer funded abortions and embraced late term abortions. And now he has chosen a vice presidential candidate who voted to leave perfectly healthy newborns on hospital tables to die and as the attorney general of California went after pro-life activists for exposing Planned Parenthood for illegally selling aborted baby body parts. During the presidential primary, Senator Harris complained that she didn’t have enough time in the debates to show off her abortion radicalism. As if this were not enough, Harris co-sponsored the religious liberty-violating and pro-abortion ‘Equality Act’ in the U.S. Senate. Joe Biden has now clearly shown himself for what he is: a puppet on the strings of radical abortion.

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, recalled that, while a presidential primary candidate, Harris pledged that, if elected, “no abortion law or practice will take effect until the Department of Justice certifies it comports with Roe v. Wade.”

In May 2019, Harris’s presidential campaign pledged not only to restrict states’ rights to pass and enact their own laws, but also to block a pro-life president’s power and that of the administration.

“Guardrails will ensure DOJ enforces the law even under an administration that’s hostile to women’s rights — and patients and providers will have standing to sue if they don’t,” Harris’s plan stated.

Harris’s presidential campaign website now immediately takes visitors to joebiden.com.

Hawkins continued that Harris has not only “promised to ‘protect Planned Parenthood from Republican attempts to defund’” it, but also hopes to “force all private insurances and employers to cover abortion and contraception, even over people’s moral objections, such as the nuns in the Little Sisters of the Poor who twice had to fight for their conscience rights before the Supreme Court.”

“Sen. Kamala Harris has already proved that she will use any legal authority available to her to target pro-life Americans,” Hawkins said. “Abortion was always going to be an issue in this election, but the stakes just got higher. The choice for anyone who rejects abortion at any point in pregnancy and with taxpayer funds is crystal clear.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday left in place an agreement that allows Rhode Island residents to vote by mail through November’s general election without getting signatures from two witnesses or a notary.

State officials had agreed to suspend the witness requirement because of the coronavirus pandemic. They have said that fulfilling the requirement, which has been in place since at least 1978, results in close contact between voters and others, which could expose people to the virus.

The high court rejected an effort by the Republican National Committee and the Republican Party of Rhode Island to put the agreement on hold, noting that “no state official has expressed opposition.”

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch would have granted the Republicans’ request.

Rhode Island allows voters to request to vote by mail for any reason, and the coronavirus has resulted in an enormous increase in mail-in voting. Nationwide, a surge in voting by mail is expected for the November general election because of the pandemic, and money to help the Postal Service process the anticipated increase has been a sticking point in talks for a virus relief package. President Donald Trump said Thursday he opposes additional funding.

Rhode Island is one of approximately a dozen states that require mail-in ballot envelopes to be signed by one or more witnesses or a notary. Republicans in Rhode Island argued that witness requirements deter voter fraud, though elections experts say voter fraud is rare. And they said the state is already allowing 20 days of early voting that will reduce the number of people who go to the polls on Election Day and has put in place other protections for voters and poll workers.

The case arose after Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, in April suspended the so-called two witness requirement for the state’s June 2 presidential primary.

In July, the American Civil Liberties Union brought a lawsuit on behalf of Common Cause Rhode Island, the League of Women Voters of Rhode Island and others in an effort to extend the suspension.

State officials ultimately agreed to keep the requirement suspended for the Sept. 8 primary and Nov. 3 general election. Republicans objected, but a judge approved the agreement.

The Supreme Court noted in its brief order Thursday that the most recent election had been held without the witness requirement: “The status quo is one in which the challenged requirement has not been in effect, given the rules used in Rhode Island’s last election, and many Rhode Island voters may well hold that belief.”

In statements, Steven Brown, the executive director of the ACLU of Rhode Island, called the court’s action “a victory for basic principles of democracy.” And John Marion, the executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, said: “Because of this order hundreds of thousands of Rhode Island voters will be able to safely cast their ballots without risking their health.”

Rhode Island Republican Party Chair Sue Cienki said in a statement that Republicans are disappointed with the Supreme Court’s decision.

“We fear that this decision will create more, not less confusion,” she said, noting that the Supreme Court intervened previously to allow Alabama to continue to impose a similar ballot witness requirement.

Rhode Island Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea said in a statement that the state would begin mailing out the requested mail ballots on Thursday for the September primary. She called removing the witness or notary requirement a “common-sense step that will protect Rhode Islanders during this pandemic.” Races on the September ballot include seats in both houses of the General Assembly, Rhode Island’s two congressional seats and one of the state’s two Senate seats.

Aug. 18 is the last day voters can apply for a mail-in ballot for the primary. For the general election, Oct. 13 is the last day to request a mail-in ballot. In both cases, ballots have to be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Two boys were robbed of their hard-earned money while running a lemonade stand in their front yard in Peoria, Illinois, last week, according to a surveillance video.

According to the video provided by neighbors, two boys believed to be teenagers snatched the cash box with about $30 inside after one of the teens approached the stand with what appeared to be a firearm.

One boy’s father called it a “terrifying” situation but was moved by the response in the community.

Some people paid $20 for a glass of lemonade after they heard about the situation.

“One guy in particular he came back like a half-hour later and he had all these bags of chips and candy and everything and he’s like hey you can sell this at your stand…and helped set it up, so many people just stopped and said things to the boys like don’t quit, don’t let this discourage you,” Nathan Peterson told KETK.

WMBD reported that the Peoria Police Department is investigating the incident.