A House Republican is blaming a “ruse” targeting multiple GOP offices on Capitol Hill after photos surfaced of an American Flag altered to feature a swastika hanging in his office.Rep. Dave Taylor (R–OH) garnered national headlines this week when an image made the rounds on social media showing an American flag altered to display a swastika inside his Washington, D.C. office. The image was a screenshot from a Zoom call with one of Taylor’s staffers and showed the doctored flag hanging on a cubicle wall in the background. Taylor on Thursday offered new insights as to what happened.“Numerous Republican offices have confirmed that they were targeted by an unidentified group or individual who distributed American flags bearing a similar symbol, which were initially indistinguishable from an ordinary American flag to the naked eye,” he told Politico. “My office was among those that were subjected to this ruse.”A Republican staffer told the outlet that similar flags were mailed to multiple congressional offices in February. That staffer said the flags were clearly “hate mail.”“It was plainly obvious to us that there was a swastika on the flag with the naked eye,” the staffer said. There was no investigation, and the flag was thrown away, “like we would hate mail,” the staffer said.
Category: politics
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton has been indicted on 18 counts of illegally hoarding or sending sensitive national security information by a federal grand jury.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James has rejected federal charges of bank fraud and making false statements, calling it a baseless case of revenge for her successful litigation against Donald Trump and his companies.
After months of waiting, and several committee meetings, the Florida House is offering a slate of ideas for sweeping property tax reform next session.
Should you have to think twice before posting a protest flyer to your Instagram story? Or feel pressure to delete that bald JD Vance meme that you shared? Now imagine that you could get kicked out of the country—potentially losing your job or education—based on the Trump administration’s dislike of your views on social media.
That threat to free expression and dissent is happening now, but we won’t let it stand.
“…they’re not just targeting individuals—they’re targeting the very idea of freedom itself.”
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and co-counsel are representing the United Automobile Workers (UAW), Communications Workers of America (CWA), and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) in a lawsuit against the U.S. State Department and Department of Homeland Security for their viewpoint-based surveillance and suppression of noncitizens’ First Amendment-protected speech online. The lawsuit asks a federal court to stop the government’s unconstitutional surveillance program, which has silenced citizens and noncitizens alike. It has even hindered unions’ ability to associate with their members.
Press Release
Full Complaint in UAW v. State Department
“When they spy on, silence, and fire union members for speaking out, they’re not just targeting individuals—they’re targeting the very idea of freedom itself,” said UAW President Shawn Fain.
The Trump administration has built this mass surveillance program to monitor the constitutionally protected online speech of noncitizens who are lawfully present in the U.S. The program uses AI and automated technologies to scour social media and other online platforms to identify and punish individuals who express viewpoints the government considers “hostile” to “our culture” and “our civilization”. But make no mistake: no one should be forced to conform to the views of the state.
The Foundation of Democracy
Your free expression and privacy are fundamental human rights, and democracy crumbles without them. We have an opportunity to fight back, but we need you. EFF’s team of lawyers, activists, researchers, and technologists have been on a mission to protect your freedom online since 1990, and we’re just getting started.
Donate and become a member of EFF today. Your support helps protect crucial rights, online and off, for everyone.
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Past comments by Platner that resurfaced this week included posts, now deleted, in which he criticized cops and said that white rural Americans ‘actually are’ racist and stupid.
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French stocks are up in positive territory on Thursday, lifting the benchmark CAC 40 to an eight-month high, as the mood remains firm following the French government surviving no-confidence votes.