Congress
Wall Street Journal: Disney Faces Backlash in Florida Amid ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Controversy
By Robbie Whelan and Arian Campo-Flores
Inside the company, some executives have expressed disappointment that Disney has become politicized, said people familiar with their thinking.
This month, Rep. Jim Banks, a Republican from Indiana, sent a letter to Mr. Chapek saying he opposed extending the original copyright for Mickey Mouse, which is set to expire at the end of 2023. Certain Disney copyrights have been extended repeatedly in the past by acts of Congress.
Mr. Banks wrote that he now opposes further extensions because he objects to Disney’s investments in China and because the company has “capitulated to far-left activists” on LGBT issues. Two other U.S. House members have since voiced support for Mr. Banks’s letter.
Online Speech Platforms
Wall Street Journal: Twitter Adopts Poison Pill Plan to Block Elon Musk From Increasing Stake
By Cara Lombardo
Twitter Inc. moved to prevent Elon Musk from significantly increasing his stake, a day after he unveiled a $43 billion unsolicited takeover bid for the social-media company.
The company on Friday adopted a so-called poison pill that makes it difficult for Mr. Musk to increase his stake beyond 15%. The billionaire founder of Tesla Inc. already owns a more-than 9% stake that he revealed earlier this month.
Newsweek: Twitter Under Elon Musk Would Be ‘Arena of Hate’: Democratic Strategist
By Fatma Khaled
During an interview on MSNBC’s PoliticsNation, Reverend Al Sharpton asked Moodie: “Are you concerned that what Musk is trying to do is to open up the platform for more misinformation about topics such as COVID-19 and the 2020 election? And perhaps even allow former President Trump to get his account back?”
“I’m going to be honest, Elon Musk is a danger to Twitter and to freedom of speech,” she responded, adding that Musk’s bid to buy the social media platform would be “problematic.”
Musk said Thursday during a TED conference in Vancouver that he believes it is “very important for there to be an inclusive arena for free speech.”
“So, creating an arena for hate? To me, that’s what that sounds like,” Moodie commented on Musk’s remarks. She argued that he is buying Twitter to evade “consequences” for his tweets, while also accusing him of tweeting “transphobic and homophobic things to his millions of followers.”
Spiked: Why Elon Musk has rattled them
By Tom Slater
The Washington Post’s Max Boot was swift out of the blocks. ‘I am frightened by the impact on society and politics if Elon Musk acquires Twitter’, Boot tweeted. ‘He seems to believe that on social media anything goes. For democracy to survive, we need more content moderation, not less.’
On an even more demented note, Robert Reich, veteran of the Clinton and Obama administrations, essentially argued that Musk buying Twitter would put us on a fast track to fascism; that Musk’s vision for an ‘uncontrolled’ internet was ‘the dream of every dictator, strongman, demagogue and modern-day robber baron’.
Reich wasn’t the only one gripped by this interesting idea that dictators love free speech and that more of it online will bring the Third Reich back. New York University journalism professor Jeff Jarvis had this poetic response to Musk’s bid: ‘Today on Twitter feels like the last evening in a Berlin nightclub at the twilight of Weimar Germany.’
The States
People United for Privacy: Citizen Privacy – and Bipartisanship – Win the Day in Kansas
On April 14, 2022, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly (D) signed House Bill 2109 into law, a bipartisan bill “prohibiting the disclosure of personal information about a person’s affiliation with an entity that is exempt from federal income taxation under section 501(c) of the federal internal revenue code and continuing in existence certain exceptions to the disclosure of public records under the open records act.” …
“The right to give privately to causes and charities – without fear of retribution or cancellation – is protected by the United States Constitution. Unfortunately, that right is not always respected by people in positions of power who seek to target their political opponents. H.B. 2109 will ensure the citizens of Kansas can freely support the groups that are doing important work in their communities without being harassed or intimidated by elected officials and activists who might disagree with the missions of those organizations,” said Heather Lauer, Executive Director of People United for Privacy.
This important legislation, which protects the privacy and First Amendment rights of all Kansans – regardless of their beliefs – earned strong support from both sides of the aisle. The final version passed 92-20 in the House and 40-0 in the Senate.
Nonprofit organizations representing a broad range of issues and beliefs spoke favorably about the initial House version of the bill during a Kansas House Judiciary Committee hearing that took place on January 25, 2022.
By Daniel A. Horwitz
The Tennessee Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance, Registry of Election Finance “is in contempt of court,” a senior Chancery Court judge has found. The finding arose from the Registry’s willful collection of $64,000.00 in PAC fees in violation of a permanent injunction prohibiting it from doing so. “[T]he Registry shall refund all improperly collected registration fees, obtained through the enforcement of Tenn. Code Ann. §2-10-121 in violation of this Court’s injunction, within 15 days,” the Court’s order reads. It further “ORDERED that additional coercive fines will be considered if defendant fails to refund the registration fees as ordered above[.]”
The contempt proceeding at issue arose from an injunction secured by the election reform advocacy group Tennesseans for Sensible Election Laws in 2018.
The Center Square: Tennessee Senate passes amended campaign finance reporting bill
By Jon Styf
Tennessee’s Senate passed a bill on Thursday that could require more reporting requirements for political action committees (PAC), candidates and some nonprofits.
An amended Senate Bill 1005 could require any PAC registering after July 1 to include a name and address from an ID for its officers if it becomes law…
The bill, if signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee, also would require expenses and contributions to be reported for any local candidate with contributions or expenses $1,000 or higher…
A companion house bill does not have the same PAC registration requirements. House Bill 1201 will next be heard in the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee. If the two bodies pass differing bills and can’t reach an agreement, a conference committee on the topic will be created.
The senate bill was amended on Thursday to only require a 501(c)(4), 501(c)(5) or 501(c)(6) to report expenditures if the nonprofit spends more than $5,000 on communications that include the name or image of a candidate in the final 60 days before an election.
Link NKY: The Final 48: Bills that made it through the General Assembly
By Mark Payne
Anti-SLAPP (Uniform Public Expression Protection Act) bill: House Bill 222 seeks to protect freedom of speech. It would offer those who speak out against a matter of public interest protection from strategic lawsuits against public participation, known as SLAPP lawsuits.
The primary co-sponsors of HB 222 are Rep. Nima Kulkarni, D-Louisville, and Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville. Kulkarni has been working on the bill since 2019.
Nemes said HB 222 would protect regular people from anyone in power, regardless of their political affiliation, who seeks to silence them.
“(Strategic lawsuits against public participation) are not in the best interest of our citizens, so we want to make sure you can’t abuse the process,” Nemes said.
