{"id":79223,"date":"2025-05-29T18:50:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T18:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/rubio-announces-ban-on-foreign-censors-coming-to-the-us-while-simultaneously-having-students-kidnapped-for-their-speech\/"},"modified":"2025-05-29T18:51:51","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T18:51:51","slug":"rubio-announces-ban-on-foreign-censors-coming-to-the-us-while-simultaneously-having-students-kidnapped-for-their-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/rubio-announces-ban-on-foreign-censors-coming-to-the-us-while-simultaneously-having-students-kidnapped-for-their-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubio Announces Ban On Foreign \u2018Censors\u2019 Coming To The US, While Simultaneously Having Students Kidnapped For Their Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"

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from the oh-come-on<\/i> dept<\/h3>\n

Secretary of State Marco Rubio introduced this week that he\u2019s barring visas for international nationals who \u201ccensor Individuals,\u201d declaring that \u201cfree speech is among the many most cherished rights we take pleasure in as Individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is yet one more instance of essentially the most censorial administration falsely wrapping itself within the cloak of \u201cfree speech warriors\u201d to defend censorship. Rubio has spent his tenure as Secretary of State conducting essentially the most aggressive authoritarian censorship marketing campaign in current American historical past \u2014 actually having college students kidnapped off the street<\/a> for his or her speech and moved across the nation to hide them<\/a> from the courts. He\u2019s declared foreign students \u201clunatics\u201d<\/a> for his or her opinions and yanked their visas with out warning or due course of.<\/p>\n

So when Rubio positions himself as a free speech champion, it\u2019s price inspecting what he\u2019s really doing versus what he\u2019s claiming to oppose.<\/p>\n

The New Visa Coverage: Extraordinarily Selective \u201cAnti-Censorship\u201d<\/h2>\n

Wednesday\u2019s announcement targets international officers who \u201ccensor\u201d Individuals:<\/p>\n

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Free speech is among the many most cherished rights we take pleasure in as Individuals. This proper, legally enshrined in our structure, has set us aside as a beacon of freedom all over the world. At the same time as we take motion to reject censorship at dwelling, we see troubling situations of international governments and international officers choosing up the slack. In some situations, international officers have taken flagrant censorship actions in opposition to U.S. tech firms and U.S. residents and residents after they haven’t any authority to take action.<\/em><\/p>\n

Right now, I’m saying a brand new visa restriction coverage that can apply to international nationals who’re liable for censorship of protected expression in the USA. It’s unacceptable for international officers to challenge or threaten arrest warrants on U.S. residents or U.S. residents for social media posts on American platforms whereas bodily current on U.S. soil. It’s equally unacceptable for international officers to demand that American tech platforms undertake international content material moderation insurance policies or have interaction in censorship exercise that reaches past their authority and into the USA. We won’t tolerate encroachments upon American sovereignty, particularly when such encroachments undermine the train of our elementary proper to free speech.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In isolation, defending Individuals\u2019 speech rights could be price contemplating. However this isn\u2019t taking place in isolation \u2014 it\u2019s coming from essentially the most censorial administration in current reminiscence.<\/p>\n

The true inform is what constitutes \u201ccensorship\u201d in Rubio\u2019s framework. The coverage particularly targets calls for that \u201cAmerican tech platforms undertake international content material moderation insurance policies.\u201d Translation: that is about defending platforms like ExTwitter from having to observe guidelines in locations just like the EU or Brazil that Elon Musk doesn\u2019t like. In the meantime, Rubio\u2019s personal authorities is actually disappearing individuals for his or her speech.<\/p>\n

The Selective Enforcement Recreation<\/h2>\n

Count on this coverage to be utilized with surgical precision in opposition to nations whose content material insurance policies displease the administration \u2014 doubtless focusing on EU officials<\/a>, Brazilian judges<\/a>, and Australian regulators<\/a> who\u2019ve pressured social media firms. And, sure, these all have carried out issues we take into account problematic, however banning them from the US fully appears ridiculous and an assault on international sovereignty. We might disagree with their insurance policies, however that is the US meddling in these insurance policies elsewhere.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, will the visa ban apply to Recep Erdogan of Turkey<\/a>? Narendra Modi of India<\/a>? Vladimir Putin<\/a>? All repeatedly have interaction in precise social media censorship, however by some means I doubt they\u2019ll face visa restrictions.<\/p>\n

The inform right here is that Rubio selected to announce this by means of an \u201cunique\u201d article from Michael Shellenberger, one of many main voices within the \u201ccensorship industrial advanced\u201d mythology \u2014 who’s now employed as a \u201cprofessor\u201d at a \u201ccollege\u201d that espouses \u201ceducational freedom\u201d however fires people<\/a> who submit on social media in a means that challenges a funder\u2019s ideology. Shellenberger has spent years misrepresenting fundamental content material moderation ideas whereas claiming non-public firms imposing their very own guidelines constitutes authorities censorship. Now, confronted with an administration actually kidnapping individuals for speech, he\u2019s writing puff items celebrating their \u201canti-censorship\u201d efforts.<\/p>\n

To point out simply how upside-down this has turn into, on this article (which I\u2019m not linking to, as a result of fuck that) celebrating Rubio\u2019s announcement as pro-free speech, Shellenberger closed by additionally celebrating Trump\u2019s resolution to revoke the security clearance<\/a> of Chris Krebs. Based on Shellenberger\u2019s fantasy, Krebs was fired for \u201cdemanding\u201d social media firm\u2019s censor content material \u2014 a factor that by no means occurred. Krebs was the CISA director who precisely identified that the 2020 election was safe \u2014 and was fired for that speech, and is now being additional retaliated in opposition to for that speech. Stripping safety clearance from somebody for contradicting your most well-liked narrative is textbook retaliation for speech, the precise form of authorities censorship Shellenberger supposedly opposes.<\/p>\n

The Similar-Day Contradiction<\/h2>\n

As if to underscore the hypocrisy, on the exact same day Rubio introduced his anti-censorship visa coverage, he additionally introduced he\u2019s revoking visas for Chinese students<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Beneath President Trump\u2019s management, the U.S. State Division will work with the Division of Homeland Safety to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese language college students, together with these with connections to the Chinese language Communist Celebration or learning in essential fields. We can even revise visa standards to boost scrutiny of all future visa functions from the Folks\u2019s Republic of China and Hong Kong.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Discover the language: \u201ctogether with these with connections\u201d means that\u2019s only a subset of all Chinese language pupil visas being canceled. What constitutes \u201cessential fields\u201d? The administration gained\u2019t say, as a result of the purpose is unfair energy to punish anybody they need.<\/p>\n

So on the identical day Rubio claims to defend free speech, he\u2019s revoking pupil visas based mostly on nationality and educational pursuits. That\u2019s not defending speech \u2014 that\u2019s focusing on it.<\/p>\n

The capstone got here when Training Secretary Linda McMahon introduced that universities ought to solely obtain federal funds if their analysis is \u201cin sync with the administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Linda McMahon: “Universities ought to proceed to have the ability to do analysis so long as they’re abiding by the legal guidelines and in sync, I believe, with the administration and what the administration is attempting to perform.”<\/p>\n

\u2014 Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com)<\/a> 2025-05-28T14:54:10.483Z<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

That is the alternative of every part conservatives claimed to face for relating to educational freedom. It\u2019s a direct assault on the First Modification\u2019s safety of mental inquiry.<\/p>\n

The Actual Sample<\/h2>\n

The sample right here isn\u2019t about defending free speech \u2014 it\u2019s about defending the speech the administration likes whereas silencing the speech it doesn\u2019t<\/strong>. When international college students write op-eds essential of US coverage, they get kidnapped. When international officers stress US tech firms in ways in which displease Musk, they get visa bans. When universities pursue analysis the administration dislikes, they lose funding.<\/p>\n

However when Rubio desires to place himself as a free speech champion, he can rely on helpful idiots within the \u201cfree speech\u201d motion to cheer him on, whilst he\u2019s conducting essentially the most systematic assault on speech rights in current American historical past.<\/p>\n

If Rubio actually believed \u201cfree speech is among the many most cherished rights we take pleasure in as Individuals,\u201d he\u2019d cease being the most important menace to that proper within the US authorities.<\/p>\n

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\tFiled Beneath: academic freedom<\/a>, censorship<\/a>, content moderation<\/a>, free speech<\/a>, linda mcmahon<\/a>, marco rubio<\/a>, michael shellenberger<\/a>, secretary of state<\/a>, visas<\/a>
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