Matt Drudge Breaks Up With Republicans, Joins Libertarians

Activist Post

Matt Drudge, the founder of the enormously popular conservative news aggregator DrudgeReport.com, tweeted today that since there are no real differences between Democrats and Republicans the only two real political parties are Authoritarians and Libertarians.

"It's now Authoritarian vs Libertarian," Drudge tweeted. "Since Democrats vs. Republicans has been obliterated, no real difference between parties..."

Drudge also asks his followers why anyone would still vote Republican. "Who are they?!" he asks. "Raised taxes; marching us off to war again; approves more NSA snooping."

Is this a turning point for conservative politics? Is the Liberty Movement of peace and privacy set to be catapulted into the mainstream?

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Righthaven appeals loss of "fair-use" ruling, settles with Drudge

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Eric Blair
Activist Post

In October, 2010 copyright infringement extortionist, Righthaven, received its first judgement to date among their 238 lawsuits against websites and blogs; the case was dismissed on "fair-use" grounds. The defendant re-posted the first 8 sentences of a 30-sentence article originally published by Righthaven's partner Las Vegas Review-Journal.  U.S. District Judge, Larry Hicks, who granted the motion, explained his decision:

'The court finds that this use weighs in favor of a fair use of the copyrighted material,' Hicks wrote in his ruling, citing case law stating 'copying only as much as necessary in a greater work (story) to provide relevant factual information weighs in favor of fair use.'

Although this decision is potentially great news for all blogs and sites who aggregate information, Righthaven announced this week that it will appeal the decision.  Steve Green of the Las Vegas Sun quoted Righthaven lawyers as saying, “Righthaven strenuously maintains the court erred in dismissing Mr. Nelson from this case by finding his infringing conduct was protected by the defense of fair use.”

However, Green reported that the dismissal of the case has caused "Righthaven to alter its litigation strategy to limit its lawsuits to entire stories, photos and graphics — rather than partial stories — that were reproduced without authorization."  Yet, even lawsuits against websites that posted full articles are looking as though they may also be dismissed.


Righthaven, until somewhat recently, has been going after small local blogs.  But in December they stepped up to the big leagues to take on alternative news giant Matt Drudge of the DrudgeReport.com. Righthaven's lawsuit claimed that Drudge misused a Denver Post copyrighted photo, along with a link to a story about airport security on the Las Vegas Review-Journal website. Righthaven was seeking copyright infringement damages of $150,000 and forfeiture of his domain name, which is valued in the tens of millions.

Drudge, who never answered the complaint in court, settled his case with Righthaven this week.  The terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but are estimated to be far less than the extortion amount. Steve Green, again with excellent reporting, wrote:

'Righthaven and defendants have agreed to settle the matter by a written agreement,' Righthaven said in a court filing closing the case. 

Righthaven typically settles its lawsuits for less than five figures and allows defendants to keep their domain names. 

Defense attorneys and critics say Righthaven's standard lawsuit demand for forfeiture of domain names has no basis in U.S. copyright law and is included in the lawsuits to pressure defendants to settle.

Settling claims for less than five figures seems to be make very little financial sense.  It seems that Righthaven's ultimate goal is to net one precedent for which they'll be able to expand their operations.  However, the recent case dismissal, and Righthaven's commitment to back off defendants that only post partial material, appears to more clearly define the copyright limits for websites, which is good news for bloggers who wish to play by the rules.  For that, we can thank the hard work of attorneys from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Before "fair-use" bloggers get their hopes up too high, it's important to note that Righthaven is 50% owned by billionaire Warren Stephens.  Stephens made his fortune servicing the financial needs of some of the most nefarious globalists and organizations, from David Rockefeller and the Walton family (owners of Wal-Mart), to Monsanto, Tyson Foods, and the Council on Foreign Relations.  In other words, when there is an agenda backed by deep pockets, watch out!

As evidence of the advancing agenda, Congress seeks to re-introduce the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA), which would empower the U.S. Department of Justice to shut down, or block access to, websites found to be dedicated to infringing activities. The legislation would allow for domains to be "blacklisted" without due process.  It is widely viewed as even more tyrannical than the Internet "Kill Switch" legislation sought for cyber security.

RELATED ARTICLES by Eric Blair:
DHS Seizes Websites for Merely LINKING to Copyrighted Material
Google Seeks to Weaken Ranking of 'Content Farm' Websites

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Drudge Fought The TSA… And Drudge Won

Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones
Infowars.com
Monday, November 29, 2010

Despite the establishment media presiding over another mass hoax in claiming that Americans were completely happy with invasive airport security measures, contrary to polls showing a majority in opposition, and that the national opt out day was a failure, the fact that the TSA was forced to change its policy by mothballing naked body scanners and curtailing aggressive pat downs clearly goes to show that the man who almost single-handedly drove the issue, Matt Drudge, fought the TSA and he won.

The big networks and the so-called progressive borg hive, who instantly tried to spin the lack of delays at airports over Thanksgiving as proof that the opt-out protest had failed, conveniently failed to mention the fact that major airports across the country had deliberately mothballed their naked body scanners in a crass PR ploy aimed at deflating the momentum behind the demonstration.

Early reports began to pour in from Twitter users who said that body scanner machines were roped off and out of use in airports such as LAX, Seattle, San Jose and Columbus, Ohio. They also said that pat downs had reverted back to the standard procedure and were not the new grope downs that the TSA had announced a couple of weeks before.

The New Jersey Star-Ledger subsequently reported that, “The majority of Newark’s full-body scanners were idle throughout much of the day, depriving most passengers of the chance to opt out of the controversial screening procedure even if they had wanted to.”

At the nation’s busiest airport, Atlanta-Hartsfield, there was,”limited, if any, use of the controversial full-body scanners,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Later reports confirmed that, the TSA had “backed down and resorted to using the old screening procedures — metal detectors and less-intrusive pat-downs.”

Infowars reporters Rob Dew and Aaron Dykes also flew back from Denver International Airport on national opt-out day and confirmed that body scanners were completely out of use. This was the same airport in which Infowars staffer Michelle was groped by TSA goons who also attempted to fondle her children, in a story that helped kick off the rebellion against invasive airport security.

In addition, many people took part in the protest by avoiding airports altogether. Traffic was jammed on the highways, with the Massachusetts Turnpike playing host to a 30-mile hold-up.  According to AAA, more drivers were on the road than ever before during a Thanksgiving holiday.

The establishment media echo chamber attempted to pull a hoax by claiming that the vast majority of Americans were completely happy with having their genitals groped by federal goons and naked pictures taken of their children. In reality, after Drudge relentlessly drove the issue, polls of Americans that were previously in support of body scanners had reversed dramatically and the ACLU received an avalanche of new complaints.

The nationwide scanner shut down proved two things.

1) Big Sis’s security talk is nothing more than hot air. If the scanners were so imperative to keep us safe from terrorists then why did the TSA turn them off in a vain effort to score political points?

2) Drudge won. The DHS and TSA were forced to change their policies on both naked body scanners and invasive pat downs – both of which were curtailed over Thanksgiving. Whether such a change stays in place remains to be seen – the war will undoubtedly rage on, but there can be little doubt that Drudge won the battle.

As Politico’s Ben Smith highlighted, “There’s no doubt about who won on this issue: Matt Drudge chose it and drove it, illustrating both his continued power and his great sense of the public mood, and it now seems a matter of time until he gets results.”

Indeed, the whole issue underscores once again why the establishment media is so petrified of Drudge’s power to direct the nationwide rebellion against big government. One man with a website was able to take on the might of the multi-billion dollar corporate media industry and the federal government for whom they act as apologists, and in doing so stir the next great wave of resistance against tyranny.

The establishment continually berates Drudge and attempts to assert that he has lost the power to influence the national discourse, even as the Drudge Report continues to smash its traffic record year after year.

As Matt Lewis writes, Drudge has helped to spark a new movement, confounding establishment media pundits who have repeatedly belittled his influence.

Not long ago, of course, there was great debate as to whether or not Drudge even still had it. As Barack Obama was besting John McCain in 2008, many observers wondered whether or not The Drudge Report — which a decade earlier had pushed the Monica Lewinsky scandal into the headlines — had lost a step.

At the Washington Post, Howard Kurtz debated whether or not Drudge still had the clout to drive media coverage. And TPM’s Greg Sargent also argued that Drudge’s influence was over-stated. He was not alone.

Of course, as the TSA rebellion illustrates, Drudge remains incredibly powerful and uniquely important.

The wider issue now becomes not just what Big Sis is subjecting Americans to at airports, but how this same invasive and unconstitutional technology is now being increasingly used on the streets.

As Homeland Security extends its tentacles more and more into our private lives, the rebellion against Big Sis will only accelerate, and Drudge as ever will be at the forefront of that charge, much to the chagrin and embarrassment of the castrated, corrupted, distrusted, and increasingly irrelevant establishment media.

—

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show. Watson has been interviewed by many publications and radio shows, including Vanity Fair and Coast to Coast AM, America’s most listened to late night talk show.

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