The following article is a supplement to the MRC Report: The Biden Administration Waged War on Free Speech with 57 Censorship Initiatives.
Initiative #15
Courageous RI
Type of Censorship: Grant
Agencies Involved:
- Department of Homeland Security
- Center for Preventative Programs & Partnerships (CP3)
- Department of Justice
- Office of the U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island
- Department of State
- United States Embassy to Germany
- United States Embassy in Berlin
- United States Embassy to Germany
Summary:
In addition to lavishing funds on censorship outfits, the Biden administration also labored to put their weapons of mass deletion into American classrooms.
Over 700 educators participated in a year-long series of State Department seminars titled the “Medialogues on Propaganda” and co-hosted by the University of Rhode Island’s Media Education Lab and a Würzburg-based German government entity. The seminars trained educators on how to “inoculate” students against ideas not approved by the left, detailing how to put censorship tools Ad Fontes and NewsGuard into American classrooms. The “Medialogues” also gave detailed instructions on how to turn school children into “media producers” who advocate against free speech.
These Medialogues were the template later used by the Department of Homeland Security for its Courageous RI censorship initiative. Created by the Center for Preventative Programs & Partnerships (CP3) via a grant to the Rhode Island Lab, Courageous RI was a three-phase censorship strategy which culminated close to the 2024 presidential election.
Phase 1 of this strategy was the launch of a public awareness campaign, featuring DHS-commissioned blog posts attacking former President Donald Trump, “MAGA supporters,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, free speech and the Second Amendment. Phase 2 of the strategy financed the current and ongoing, nationwide expansion of seminars for educators on how to divert students away from conservative ideas and media sources skeptical of the administration’s agenda. Phase 3 provided cash prizes of up to $1,000 for children who created social media posts to increase demand for “media literacy” — a euphemism for censorship.
The U.S. attorney for Rhode Island, Zachary Cunha, was a formal partner of Courageous RI and promoted the project. Cunha's ally and predecessor Peter Neronha, who became Rhode Island attorney general, then withheld documents which could further expose the partnership.
Key Individuals:
- Zachary Cunha, U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island
- Robert Mahoney, CP3 Regional Prevention Coordinator
- Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security
- Kevin McAleenan, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security
- Peter Neronha, U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island
- Woodward “Clark” Price, United States Charge d’Affaires to the Embassy in Berlin
- Miles Taylor, DHS Chief of Staff
