Recently, I wrote about the disclosure of an alleged backchannel between the CDC and Twitter on censoring critics of the agency and its recommendations. Now, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg discussed how the FBI warned Facebook about “Russian propaganda” before the Hunter Biden laptop story dropped in 2020. This follows reports that the FBI told agents not to pursue the laptop and to slow walk any investigation into Hunter Biden’s alleged influence peddling schemes.
Zuckerberg stated on The Joe Rogan Experience that “The FBI, I think, basically came to us – some folks on our team – and was like, ‘Hey, just so you know, like, you should be on high alert… We thought that there was a lot of Russian propaganda in the 2016 election. We have it on notice that, basically, there’s about to be some kind of dump of that’s similar to that. So just be vigilant.’”
It is not clear why the FBI considered this type of media outreach was part of its responsibility as a law enforcement agency. This was before the presidential election and actively discouraged a major platform to allow discussion of major allegations of corruption. The use of the FBI for such a role gave Facebook officials ample cover to expand their censorship operations.
The company only recently allowed customers to discuss the lab theory of the origins of Covid after years of biased censorship. Facebook’s decision to allow people to discuss the theory followed the company’s Oversight Board upholding a ban on any postings of Trump, a move that even figures like Germany’s Angela Merkel and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) have criticized as a danger to free speech. Even Trump’s voice has been banned by Facebook. Trump remains too harmful for Facebook users to hear . . . at least until the company decides that they are ready for such exposure. Facebook has tried to get customers to embrace censorship in a commercial campaign despite its long record of abusive and biased “content modification.”
Zuckerberg just shrugged when pressed on his company effectively joining the effort to kill the story before the election: “Yeah, it sucks. It turned out, after the fact, the fact-checkers looked into it. No one was able to say it was false.”
As with the earlier column on the CDC’s work with Twitter, there is a growing concern over the use of such backchannels for censorship by surrogates in these social media companies.
Zuckerberg stressed that, unlike Twitter, Facebook only buried the story but allowed limited discussion. It is the type of rationalization that only a censor would see as redeeming. The alternative is free speech where Facebook does not assume the right to control what people discuss on such political issues.
““There’s a separate case where PV admitted to buying the items from A.H. and R.K.:”
Is that the special master case since the FBI inappropriately invaded James OKeefe’s privacy? Are you trying to link them to a crime that never occurred? I couldn’t open the link and know you to be devious and untruthful, so I have to question if you are again acting in a deceitful manner.
Strange that the FBI used to be so very media conscious and so very careful of their shining reputation and now under Garland and Wray they can’t seem to help stepping onto one public dog turd after another.
Attorney General Bill Barr discussed the politicization of the DOJ and FBI in an excellent podcast interview with Bari Weiss. I followed the transcript that Bari provides but the podcast is better: you get to hear his voice inflections and strengthening of voice depending on the topic. Very informative all around. Barr seems to be the only adult in the room vis a vis the topic of Hillary Clinton, DOJ/FBI, the state of our nation and Donald Trump. His several references to Ronald Reagan were instructive and insightful. Bari is excellent all around and is very good at her craft. The NYT really blew it with her.
Bill Barr Calls Bullsh*t
https://www.commonsense.news/p/bill-barr-calls-bullsht
Thanks.
Law professor Ann Althouse has this clip about Alex Berenson’s suit against Twitter. Good comment by Berenson that includes many points made here. Killer remark is that the Biden White House [Nut House] pressured Twitter to ban Berenson.
https://althouse.blogspot.com/2022/08/alex-berenson-sued-twitter-over-being.html
For all those blog leftists demanding proof of a corrupt 2020 election resulting in the election of a non compos mentis POTUS over his predecessor, here’s Exhibit A where a corrupt FBI calls in the “insurance policy” with the help of willing, useful. and enthusiastic idiots. Defrauding the American public over an issue 79% say would have affected their vote against illegitimate President Biden. The FBI wants to be the Praetorian Guard but i don’t think they have the chops for it. Those antibodies of democracy would have eliminated a feckless buffoon puppet emperor like Biden after realizing their colossal mistake. The FBI NEEDS TO GO AWAY – and now. Sic Semper Tyrannis.
And to think that mespo was a top-flyght mouth-for-hire…
And to think that Mespo offered a coherent and thoughtful comment and all that David Benson can offer in response is a weak and failed ad hom. Sad…
And then Ray couldn’t think of anything clever to write, but felt compelled to scribble something…
Keep digging David…lol
If private enterprise is using censorship of the public at the behest of the federal government, it is a violation of the public’s civil rights and is illegal under 42 U.S. Code § 1983 – Civil action for deprivation of rights. So, there is only one question: Did Facebook, Twitter, et al, use censorship of their members at the “request” of the federal government? It’s either yes or no. If yes, it’s a (civil) crime. If no, they have a lot of ‘splaining to do.
I imagine the government is doing the same thing with big tech on issues like Ivermectin, Covid origins and vaccine dangers. It also seems likely that medical boards are being given the nudge to noose doctors who don’t parrot the government script on Covid.
“[T]he FBI warned Facebook about ‘Russian propaganda’ before the Hunter Biden laptop story dropped in 2020.” (JT)
So the *law enforcement* agency tasked with protecting us from election interference is instead running interference.
This is not good.
I’m from the government and I’m here to help.
OT: Way to go Biden
NYPost: “US economy shrank again in second quarter — signaling recession”
US economy shrank again in second quarter. Must be Russian disinformation.
If Big Tech had not censored the truth about Joe and Hunter Biden’s collusion with China, America would not be in this current predicament. The DOJ/ FBI is guilty of a massive insurrection coup against America
August 26, 2022
Monetary Policy and Price Stability
Chair Jerome H. Powell
“Restoring price stability will take some time and requires using our tools forcefully to bring demand and supply into better balance. Reducing inflation is likely to require a sustained period of below-trend growth. Moreover, there will very likely be some softening of labor market conditions. While higher interest rates, slower growth, and softer labor market conditions will bring down inflation, they will also bring some pain to households and businesses. These are the unfortunate costs of reducing inflation. But a failure to restore price stability would mean far greater pain.”
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/powell20220826a.htm
The FBI: Federal Bureaucracy of Insurrection
““Honesty” is what gets some Anonymous comments censored. If you were paying attention, you’d see it.”
If Upstate Farmer replied to that comment it got deleted along with the Anonymous the Stupid comment. He does that to be spiteful to list members.
Honesty and ATS don’t even belong in the same sentence.
It’s really nice of you to re-post Elvis Bug’s comments when they get removed.
It might be EB’s remark. Who knows. You could be lying or telling the truth. I don’t know because you have no credibility and no identity.
Don’t cry if it is EB for he acts like you sometimes. Two peas in a pod, Neither is intelligent.
For the most part we know when you are posting, but that embarrasses you because you are proven wrong repeatedly. That is why you hide under the anonymous icon.
But you have been proven to be spiteful and make sure your posts would likely be deleted along with others that responded. If you don’t believe it you can go and look around to see what you did in the past.
See the proof at and around: https://jonathanturley.org/2022/01/10/the-vaccine-mandates-the-supreme-court-considers-a-trip-to-major-questions-land/comment-page-1/#comment-2150023
I did what?
Sorry, I have not revisted this article in sometime.
One of the Anonymous routinely accuses the professor and to a lesser degree Darren, as a hypocrite of free speech.
Then fails time and time again when asked what is it he posts that gets him censored. I have asked and stated does not have to be verbatim. Was it racist? Anti-semite? Misogynist? Calling for violence against a person or group of people based on race, religion, sex, political party?
Never got an answer.
Must be something truly deserving of censorship.
UpstateFarmer,
The 8/26 8:19pm comment wasn’t responding to you; it was responding to an anonymous comment posted by S Meyer, in which S Meyer re-posted a comment that had been deleted. According to Anonymous / S Meyer, Darren deleted a comment that said only “’Honesty’ is what gets some Anonymous comments censored. If you were paying attention, you’d see it.”
I’m pretty sure that that was originally posted by someone who previously posted under the name Elvis Bug, and I thanked Anonymous / S Meyer for re-posting Bug’s comment after Darren removed it. S Meyer does that a lot, because he’s obsessed with liberals who post anonymously.
Turley IS a hypocrite when it comes to free speech. He regularly calls for Facebook and Twitter refrain from deleting comments and from banning commenters, when he and Darren delete comments daily and periodically ban people (Jeff Silberman, Art Deco, Elvis Bug, and others). I’m not complaining about being censored myself. I’m just pointing out the hypocrisy of Turley condemning others for doing the same thing he himself does.
“Must be something truly deserving of censorship.”
No, why does “’Honesty’ is what gets some Anonymous comments censored. If you were paying attention, you’d see it.” deserve censorship?
If you want another example, here’s another from Elvis Bug (the top comment: January 17, 2022 at 11:03 AM) that was deleted but can be read in this archived version of the comments:
https://web.archive.org/web/20220117161623/https://jonathanturley.org/2022/01/17/themyth-of-bipartisanship-kyrsten-sinema-becomes-the-latest-victim-of-rage-politics/
Let’s cut to the chase. Elvis Bug continuously used profanity, and I think that was one reason he was censored.
Anonymous the Stupid or ATS (the one I am responding to) is deceptive and a liar. He is also spiteful and having more than one address uses one in particular that gets himself deleted. Essentially this is self-deletion since he knows in advance what is likely to happen. This takes down all other posts linking to that post, hurting other people.
One can see this at: https://jonathanturley.org/2022/01/10/the-vaccine-mandates-the-supreme-court-considers-a-trip-to-major-questions-land/comment-page-1/#comment-2150023 Look around. Sometimes it is reasonably predictable when a post of ATS will be deleted.
ATS also uses pretend friends and other aliases but will never match the number created by Peter Shill who remains on the blog with newer aliases.
ATS loves to pull other people down to make himself feel taller, but to others, it causes him to look smaller. Lately, ATS competes with the censored Jeff Silberman trying to insult Turley and Darren. He is not a pleasant person. If he visits you, put him in the barnyard letting the other animals deal with him.
Meyer the Liar, you’re as deluded as the guy who complains about the “blog stooge.”
The two of you are peas in a pod, pretending that different people are just socks because that’s what you prefer to believe, even though it isn’t true.
You don’t like the fact that you were caught being spiteful.
https://jonathanturley.org/2022/01/10/the-vaccine-mandates-the-supreme-court-considers-a-trip-to-major-questions-land/comment-page-1/#comment-2150023
ATS loves to pull other people down to make himself feel taller, but to others, it causes him to look smaller. Lately, ATS competes with the censored Jeff Silberman trying to insult Turley and Darren. He is not a pleasant person. If he visits you, put him in the barnyard letting the other animals deal with him.
“I agree with Anon, above, @ 4:53 p.”
Along with his disappearing act (intentionally having his responses disappear) ATS is again playing with his pretend friends. This spineless creature is a bit nuts.
“He lets Darren run the comments section. If he knew (or cared) what takes place beneath his columns/postings, he might be motivated to make some changes. You get what you pay for, and I believe that Darren isn’t paid.“
This type of comment by ATS is trashy. It doesn’t belong on this type of list. In fact much of what Anonymous the Stupid says doesn’t belong. If you want, criticize Turley and Darren’s ideas, but it is time for you to put to bed the other comments you provide that are in lieu of normal intelligence.
3rd Election with DoJ Interferiance: Did we need Marc Zuckerberg’s Heads-Up?
1. Presidential Election 2016
On 9/26/16 FBI seized electronic devices of disgraced former Rep Anthony Weiner. Three days later, FBI knows all relevant facts about over 340K emails linked to Huma Abedin on seven domains, which were @clinton.com/gov, @state.gov, @clintonemail.com, @AW.com, @clintonfoundation.org, @presidentclinton.com, and @hillaryclinton.com, but FBI waited one month to investigate with lame excuses for the delay. FBI Director James Comey to Senate Judiciary Committe: She made a regular practice of forwarding hundreds and thousands of Clinton messages to her husband, some of which contain classified information because the disgraced former congressman could print them out for her boss. If you like to be on par, a search “comey mccabe page priestap strzok” is always a good way to start.
On 6/14/18 OIG released a 500 pages report (+ attachments) examining various actions by FBI and DoJ in advance of the 2016 Presidential election in connection with “Midyear” [1] investigation (Secretary Hillary Clinton 1/21/09 – 2/1/13) :
“[…] We found that the conduct of these five FBI […] sowed doubt about the FBI’s handling of the Midyear investigation, and impacted the reputation of the FBI […] .Moreover, the damage caused by their actions extends far beyond the scope of the Midyear investigation and goes to the heart of the FBI’s reputation for neutral factfinding and political independence. […] The harm caused by leaks, fear of potential leaks, and a culture of unauthorized media contacts […] the fact that these issues influenced FBI officials […] we concluded that these leaks
highlight the need to change what appears to be a cultural attitude among many in the organization. […] (pages XI-XII).
2. Presidential Election 2020
Common sense has it, that Joe Biden (VP 1/20/09-1/20/17) made use of his son Hunter to sell access and influence.[1]. Does Mexico/China/Russia/Ukraine have compromising material to blackmail President Biden? Since he took office in 1/21, the administration has committed more than $10.6 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, with the bulk of it — $9.9 billion — issued since Russia began its invasion on 24/2/22. Is it allowed to ask: Where is taxpayers money going without going blacklisted?
Condensed Flashback (with an unintended gap between 12/19 and 09/20):
4/19: Hunter Biden asked John Paul Isaak to repair his damaged laptop.
6/19: Reports had it that the repairman was concerned about illegal activity, eg an email exchange between Hunter & Burisma. He made four copies of the hard drive containing some 40,000 emails, thousands of text messages, photographs and videos. He left two with friends.
9/19: The repairman contacted an intermediary who contacted FBI. Agents cloned hard drive.
10/19: Agents returned and confiscated laptop. According to Mr Isaak, they said: If you keep your mouth shut nothing would happen.
12/19: Mr Isaak contacted Robert Costello, a lawyer of Rudy Giuliani, because he was under the impression that President Trump was falsely accused.
08/20: According to Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) FBI analyst Brian Auten opened an assessment, which was used by a team of agents at FBI headquarters to improperly discredit and falsely claim that derogatory information about Biden’s activities was disinformation, causing investigative activity and sourcing to be shut down.
9/20: According to Mr Costello, after he possessed the hard drive he made a background check and handed it over to Mr. Giuliani.
10/20: According to Mr. Giuliani, he gave it to NYP, because either nobody else would take it, or if they took it, they would spend all the time they could to try to contradict it before they put it out.
10/20: After NYP broke the story, FBI 50+ former senior intel officials signed a letter [2] saying they are “deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case”. This “expertise” was basis for mainstream media to label it as “Russian disinfo”
On Thursday, 8/3/22, Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) pointed FBI Director Chris Wray (R), appointed by former President Trump), within a meeting of Judiary Committee about the involvement of FBI Agents Tim Thibault and Brian Auten: He wanted to know if biased dirty cops killing possible tax fraud, unregistered foreign lobbying and money laundering investigations that interfered in 2020 Presidential election:
“I[…] I should say that when I read the letter that describes the kinds of things that you’re talking about, I found it deeply troubling. […] I will tell you that what you’re describing is not representative of the FBI […] where I see patriots working their tails off with tremendous integrity and objectivity […]”
3. Midterm Election 2022
A President on the one hand announced a “Unite We Stand Summit” on 9/15/22 at WH on the other hand he said “I don’t respect these MAGA Republicans.” They’re “semi-fascist” as well as violent and hateful.
And what does Senator Mitch McConell (R) say? Nothing: He don’t even see a double standard in DoJ investigations. Who got the blame if Congress doesn’t flip after midterms?
[1] Peter Kadzik, Head of Legislative Affairs (2014-2017) had a healthy email exchange with his longtime friend John Podesta, 2016 chairman of Hillary Clintons presidential campaign. OIG questions if he had rescued from certain matter. After profound and in-depth analysis (p 461-483) was already public the time he sent it.
[2] https://thedrilldown.com/hunter-biden-laptop-revealed
[3] https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000175-4393-d7aa-af77-579f9b330000
Thks for reminding us of their past Evil.
We should all pray Thks to Jesus he spared us all from the rule of that Demonic Satanist Hillary C & the rest of those Devil Worshipers for at least her
.
Thanks! I whish our Leaders in DC would work to enspire their voter base…
Deep state? Figment of our imaginations??
May 12, 1945
The Courts should be strictly judicial and not dabble in policy-except interpretation of the Constitution.
It is not at all proper for courts to try to make laws or to read law school theories into the law and policy laid down by the Congress.
We want no Gestapo or Secret Police. F.B.I. is tending in that direction. They are dabbling in sex life scandles [sic] and plain blackmail when they should be catching criminals. They also have a habit of sneering at local law enforcement officers.
This must stop. Cooperation is what we must have.
– Longhand Note of President Harry S. Truman, May 12, 1945
https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/longhand-notes-presidential-file-1944-1953/may-12-1945
This drama of demonizing President Trump is being fostered by Faustian doppelgangers. Surrendering Moral/Spiritual values for power.
My sense is that an honest Government would use its bandwidth licensing authority to ban censorship. Unfortunately we live in a society the majority of whose resources and assets, and the government of which are controlled by our oligarchs.
One cannot do indirectly that which is already prohibited directly. Here’s hoping Biden et crooks learn this axiom the hard way.
OT
MANDATED ELECTRIC CARS
“California bans sales of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035 in milestone step”
“Move to electric vehicles hailed as ‘monumental’ but challenges in consumer affordability and charging infrastructure lie ahead
California has approved a ban on the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035 as the state takes dramatic steps to reduce emissions and combat the climate emergency. In a vote on Thursday, state regulators moved forward with a plan to phase out the sale of gas cars over the next 13 years in America’s largest auto market. The move is being hailed as a major victory that could point the way forward for others. It gives the most populous US state some of the world’s most stringent regulations for transitioning to electric vehicles.
– The Guardian
____________
Do States have the power of dictatorship?
Do States have the power to act as commercial enterprises?
Do States have the power to dictate commercial purchases?
Do States have the power to participate in and/or manipulate free enterprise and the free markets of the private commercial sector?
Do States have the power to deny to individuals the right and freedom to make decisions relating to commercial purchases?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
10th Amendment
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.