Below is my column in The Hill on the latest release of the Twitter Files and what it suggests about ever-widening scope of possible government censorship efforts.
Here is the column:
An old saying, attributed to Henry David Thoreau, maintains that you do not have to find a trout in your glass to know someone is watering down the milk. This week Americans found a veritable school of trout in their milk — and a demonstration by the Biden administration of why such a gathering of trout is often called a “lie.”
In the 17th release of the “Twitter Files,” journalist Matt Taibbi disclosed that the U.S. government is funding a group that has supported the censorship of dissenting viewpoints on social media, including those of U.S. citizens.
That may sound familiar. Just a few weeks ago, I wrote here that the congressionally created, federally funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED) had supported the British-based Global Disinformation Index (GDI). The index was widely ridiculed for targeting ten conservative and libertarian sites as the most dangerous sources of disinformation; it sought to persuade advertisers to withdraw support for those sites, while listing their most liberal counterparts as among the most trustworthy.
At the time, I noted that the Biden administration had played us for chumps. As we celebrated the demise of the infamous Disinformation Governing Board with its “Disinformation Nanny,” the Biden administration never disclosed a larger censorship program.
Shortly after my column posted in The Hill, the NED wrote to me to say that it was discontinuing support for the GDI. Microsoft also was forced into retreat after it was shown to be pushing the GDI’s biased blacklist.
Again, many celebrated a victory for free speech.
Yet, here we are again staring down at a trout in our milk. This week, Taibbi reported that the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC) may have supported a different disinformation blacklisting operation.
The GEC controversy appears strikingly similar to the one involving the NED. Both have supported third-party organizations that carried out blacklisting. Taibbi contends that the GEC contracted with the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), which sent suggested blacklists to Twitter; DFRLab says Taibbi’s report is incorrect and that it does not make content moderation decisions.
Yet, even Twitter censors reportedly balked at the size of the suggested blacklists and lack of supporting evidence. One list submitted by the GEC included several CNN journalists and Western government accounts, according to Taibbi.
Twitter’s Patrick Conlon reportedly mocked the list by referring to network anchor Anderson Cooper, joking: “Not exactly Anderson’s besties, but CNN assets if you will.” Yoel Roth, then Twitter’s head of trust and safety, responded “omg” and “what a total crock.”
It would be funny except for the fact that we know Twitter has admitted censoring many of those targeted by the government.
Still, many congressional Democrats continue to oppose efforts to investigate government censorship efforts, unleashing a type of Red Scare 2.0 by accusing critics of supporting insurrectionists or being “Putin lovers.” Others have simply insisted that if you see a trout in your milk, it is just your opinion.
When I testified at a recent hearing on the Twitter Files, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) criticized me for offering “legal opinions” without actually working at Twitter. As I have noted, it is like saying that a witness should not discuss the contents of the Pentagon Papers unless he worked at the Pentagon. It was particularly bizarre because the content of the Twitter Files — like the Pentagon Papers — are “facts.” The implication of those facts are opinions.
Twitter is confirming these emails from the government — so we are not imagining trout.
“Opinion” is what we should do about it. While insisting there is nothing to “factually” see here, Democrats insist on remaining willfully blind. Rather than investigate the full scope of the government’s insular censorship programs and efforts, we are told to trust the government. In the meantime, we are left with the same game of whack-a-mole: We strike down a Disinformation Board, and a Disinformation Index pops up … we strike down a Disinformation Index, and a disinformation blacklisting appears.
Using third-party groups gives the government added cover — to a degree. The government is not allowed to engage in censorship, but Twitter has shown that censorship-by-surrogate has its own potential risks, including the possible legal status of a company as an agent of the government. While Twitter, as a private company, is not controlled by the First Amendment, it can become an agent of the government and trigger constitutional protections.
As with intelligence operations, censorship programs are best carried out behind layers of third-party groups. We do not know the full extent of the government’s knowledge of the latest blacklisting operation to be disclosed, or any similar projects. But polls have shown that the public wants an investigation despite Democrats repeatedly blocking such efforts.
The most chilling aspect of these latest two controversies is that they involve blacklisting of individuals and groups. We have citizens who were unaware that their government was flagging them to be silenced or suspended from sharing their views on subjects ranging from Indian corruption to COVID to election fraud.
The latest Twitter Files release suggests the Biden administration may have seeded various groups to help it censor by surrogate. We still have no idea how extensive the federal funding and support for censorship has been. Right now, however, it is beginning to look like we have more trout than milk in our glasses.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at The George Washington University. Follow him on Twitter @JonathanTurley.
Remember Ashli Babbitt
-January 6, 2021
The Maryland mayor arrested for child porn has been photographed with Buttigieg and supposedly was at Biden’s White House many times. Oh, I forgot, he is a Democrat so please now imagine if he was a Republican. Cripes, some Republican congressman tried to pick up a guy in a men’s room 20 years ago and the darn world almost ended as the entire party was slimed with this egregious (back then, it is now a badge of honor to be gay) action.
Hmmm?
Newly revealed surveillance footage from Jan. 6, 2021, shows two Capitol police officers escorting Jacob Chansley, the be-horned so-called “QAnon Shaman” who has come to symbolize the riot, through the halls of the Capitol and to the very door of the US Senate.
Strange the prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence, isn’t it? But wait, Garland is as criminal and corrupt as it gets.
From The Rasmussen Survey..
Linked By Professor Turley:
Roger Stone, an adviser to former President Donald Trump, has said there is “a group of politicized thugs at the top of the FBI who are using the FBI … as Joe Biden‘s personal Gestapo.”
……………………………………………..
Let’s get this straight, ‘Rasmussen references Roger Stone, of all people, to label the FBI as Biden’s Gestapo’..???
Roger Stone is NOT some elder statesman type. To the contrary, Roger Stone’s career has been that of a political dirty trickster going back to Nixon’s reelection campaign. In fact, Roger Stone has proudly embraced his image as a ‘master of the dark arts’.
Back in 2016, Roger Stone was the Trump campaign’s liaison with Wikileaks. On January 6th, Roger Stone was Trump’s liaison with the Proud Boys. Trump, one should note, had to pardon Stone’s conviction on 7 felony counts to spare Stone from a 40 month prison sentence.
Here Rasmussen refers to Stone as a ‘Trump adviser’. That is factually true. But Roger Stone never held a formal position in Trump’s White House. Because even Donald Trump understood that Roger Stone was way too controversial. Stone, by the way, recommended old partner Paul Manafort as Trump’s first campaign manager, an arrangement that did not end well.
The fact that Rasmussen references Roger Stone to label the FBI as ‘Biden’s Gestapo’ strongly suggests that Rasmussen is NOT to be trusted outside the rightwing bubble.
Below is an NYT link reporting Trump’s pardon of Roger Stone.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/10/us/politics/trump-roger-stone-clemency.html
NY Times? I think you a Frickin fraud/fool! What does US govt intel pay them a year to publish their BS? Go back to the UK & the Tories Loyal Globalist Banker Bootlickers.
Who is FBI’s Fm #2 Mark Felt?
So people like you weaponized the Citizens Govt Against us Citizen Owners, now what?
Well, you’ve done a great job of it so far, but everyone now sees you people for what trash you are.
What wlll you Anti-American Trash do next, Mur*der RF Kennedy Jr next to stop him from running for Pres in 2024 or Whack Trump 1st?
I think the Rangers are closing in on your rotten azzes.
BTW, where can we legally place bets on this stuff in the US? 😉
Back in 2016, Roger Stone was the Trump campaign’s liaison with Wikileaks
That’s a lie.
That is true.
Trump asked J Assange in public to release whatever info he had & Assange did & then Hillary’s Deep State in a Drunken Fit decided to Torture Assange for blocking that Piece of Anti-American Trash, Hillary, from being a Billionaire & her being a Globalist Dictator. As it stands with Assange, Tramp Abandon him in Prison for what Trump asked of him & Assange is just a constant remember for what a Truly Evil C’/Witch that Assange spared us all from in 2016.
Anonymous – “Back in 2016, Roger Stone was the Trump campaign’s liaison with Wikileaks.” Can you identify any contact between Roger Stone and Julian Assange? It should be easy because it seems all of Stone’s emails were obtained by the DOJ. Even if this statement were true, why would there be anything “tricky” about communicating with Assange?
Something occurred to me today. It was not very long ago when Americans, and the world for that matter. were stopped cold in their tracks. On the morning of 11 September 2001. The overt attack was shocking as we watched in horror. The twin towers burning, people leaping to their deaths, wrenching phone calls to loved ones back home.
Then something else happened. Americans were pissed off. Not Republicans, not Democrats, not liberal or conservative. It didn’t matter what age we were, we were mad and we were united. Everyone was pissed off! How dare anyone mess with our country, our way of life! We were and we still are Americans. We are from every walk of life, from every country on the planet. We are people who come from ancestors, grandparents, parents, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives who know how to get things done.
People were going out of their way in deep respect for first responders. Firefighters, EMTs, police, and rescue operators selflessly ran toward danger when everyone was fleeing (as they still do). Soldiers were deployed in to harms way, resolute, determined to wipe out those who would plot such things against our nation, against our safety, against our way of life. Citizens thanked their first responders, they were respected. Soldiers were given first pick of seats, discounts on food and were, for once in a very long time told that they were appreciated. Many came home wounded, some died. First responders face pure evil and risk of life each and every day. When Chris Kyle died, people lined the highways fore miles and bridges to show respect to him and our heroes.
Move twenty-two years into the future and we are facing another menacing attack. It is worse than before. This time it is from within. It is being wielded from the top down. This is a war of subversion and deceit. It is a war of propaganda and surveillance wielded by against its own citizens and sometimes from bad actors from within the institutions that are designated to prevent our harm. This is Psychological warfare. The bad actors use media and social media, flash mobs and every means possible to pit one group against another. Otherwise normal friendly people don’t talk to each other. Like the rise and fall of the Third Reich, people are under group hypnosis.
This war is far more dangerous than an external threat. It is slimy and those who foment discord are weasels who once lived in the shadows and have found safe haven in this bizarre and dystopian administration. The Achilles heal of such subversion and espionage are facts, free debate, a free press, and transparency. Those who fight against freedom of speech are the ones to watch out for. They are following Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals.” If the activists cannot stop the flow of information, they distort it, use ridicule, shout them down. These bizarre happenings are not random. They are tactical and come with unending pressure.
Once you see that that this is not insane organized and conducted, then it is easier to follow the tactics. They will never invite transparency nor freedom of speech or freedom of press.
9/11 was getting hit from the outside, which brought us together. What you describe above is a cancer eating away at us and draining our life from the inside. We need chemotherapy. One thing about chemo is that it’s toxic, but more so to the cancer than to the body.
President Trump was like chemo in that way – he’s toxic but more so to America’s cancer. With Biden’s ascendency, the patient abruptly terminated chemo and put the cancer into overdrive (pardon the mixed metaphors – but then again I kind of like mixed metaphors).
Svelaz claims to be a registered Republican!
There is a similar liar on the Althouse blog with the name “Chuck”. He is also an obvious DNC/Media Matters troll.
Anonymous, I don’t claim to be registered as a Republican, I AM a Republican. In fact me and several friends, all democrats are registered as republicans. We can vote in Republican primaries and referendums. Neat isn’t it? And there’s nothing you can do about it. Absolutely nothing.
You are an illiterate attempting to be cunning but shows himself as a human barely upright on two legs instead of four.
So what Svelaz is admitting is that cheating is his way of voting. We may not be able to do anything about it but we still know who he is. Svelaz is so convinced of how smart he is that he will vote for a Republican in a Republican primary. You gotta hand it to him. He’s the smartest kid on the block. It’s probably likely that he also votes in the Democratic primary even if he’s not a registered Democrat. Given enough time Svelaz will tell us how stupid smart he is.
TiT, it’s not cheating. How is it cheating?
We republicans love to cheat. Don’t we? That’s why trump is upset about 2020. We republicans tried hard to cheat our way to victory. We failed, but us republicans can try again in 2024.
If you can’t beat ‘em, join them. Right?
Svelaz, that is “what a Democrat operative would say”.
Svelaz, you make a good Nazi. Do you remember the German American Bund?
It bears worth repeating often. The Marxists are in control of the United States and have penetrated all institutions of America but especially law schools
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11827087/International-group-23-Antifa-charged-violent-Atlanta-Cop-City-protests.html
Grinning goons of Antifa: Twenty-three domestic terrorists are charged after 150-strong ‘international brigade’ armed with Molotov cocktails torched Atlanta’s ‘Cop City’
A suspected Antifa activist charged with domestic terrorism over riots in Atlanta is an attorney for the hard-left Southern Poverty Law Center. Thomas Webb Jurgens, 28, is one of 23 people who were detained after violent clashes between police and protesters at the construction site for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.
I seen that today, what beautiful sight, whatever groups of NWO/Globalist Banking Trash working inside from a US intel outfit like the FBI or some other Intel outfits like part of 5 Eyes, the Brits or others, (?) the Anti-American Trash like the SPLC, Antifi, BLM, etc., seem to be being shut down & rounded up now.
I’m a hopeless optimist for America, we’ll see.
American liberals are becoming increasingly distrustful of American leftists pushing the war in Ukraine. Let us hope that the distrust of American leftists will soon extend into the realm of government censorship.
“The most chilling aspect of these latest two controversies is that they involve blacklisting of individuals and groups. We have citizens who were unaware that their government was flagging them to be silenced or suspended from sharing their views on subjects ranging from Indian corruption to COVID to election fraud.”
I am curious to know whether Professor Turley is aware that at least TWO of the websites that regularly publish his legal commentary — Fox and the NY Post — regularly engage in shadow-banning people or secretly blocking some of their posted comments. I mention this in the context of Turley’s statement, “We have citizens who were unaware that their government was flagging them to be silenced or suspended from sharing their views …”
That statement could easily be re-written, “We have citizens who were unaware that Fox or the NY Post were flagging them to be silenced or suspended from sharing their views.”
I personally discovered this conduct when, after the first few months of my commenting at the Fox website and accumulating over 200,000 upvotes in response to approximately 7000 posted comments — a average of close to 30 upvotes per comment — I suddenly began receiving almost NO upvotes per comment, along with a plethora of ad hominem attacks from other commenters.
Under those circumstances, it quickly became clear that somehow, somewhere one of my posted comments had irritated somebody — either at the Fox website or in the government. From that point forward, a large percentage of my comments were either shadow-banned or subjected to ad hominem attacks by other commenters in the same way that ad hominem attacks by other commenters are apparently encouraged here at Turley’s website.
Anyway, the FACT is that those two websites — Fox and the NY Post (and probably others) — regularly allow people to THINK that their comments have been published, when in reality, the posted comments are only visible on the device that posted the comment — that is, only visible to the person posting the comment, Many comments expressing views contrary to the views promoted by Fox or the NY Post cannot be seen by anyone using a different device than the device used to post the comment.
That practice may or may not be legal, depending on whether there was any government involvement in the decision-making process of sorting out which comments or commenters were allowed to be read by others. But legal or not, the practice is certainly deceptive, because I believe it’s safe to say that NOBODY posts comments just so that they can read their own comment while nobody else can read it.
There seem to be a LOT of issues related to censorship that Professor Turley is either intentionally ignoring or is blissfully unaware of, while opting at his own website to allow or encourage certain commenters to engage in wild ad hominem attacks on others under the pretense that such conduct represents “free speech” even when the attacker is, in fact, being PAID while attacking other commenters, if prior statment(s) admitting to being paid commenter(s) are to be believed.
Is PAID speech the same as FREE speech?
I used to read New York Times, Washington Post, and other liberal news sites for years until 2020 where it became apparent they removed critical or dissenting comments. Worse were the left wing trolls that were abusive, insulting and truly cult- like in their left wing bubble talk. I stopped reading or visiting those sites because they do not represent me, a Bernie Sanders supporter in 2016.
Free speech is a myth just like all other rights listed in the Bill of Rights. You could always move to the UK, Canada, or Germany but if you think this website is censorial, you would not last a day in Canada
Ralph de Minimus: I was intrigued by your comment. I don’t think the Biden administration is deliberately shadow-banning your comments to Fox or the NY Post. That’s giving them too much credit. Besides, if your comments were critical of any Fox or Post article why would they want to ban that? Kind of counter-intuitive. So that leaves someone(s) at Fox and the Post. Turley wants us to believe all this is the work of the Biden administration–kind of a super, all powerful system that can censure anybody–even on Fox and the Post. If what you say is true this undercuts Turley’s entire argument. Care to elaborate?
I don’t know that there’s much more than I can say. I didn’t comment at the Fox website until after the NY Times and USA Today began shadow-banning me, and then ABC outright banned me without explanation (though I suspect it was for citing an article in the Gateway Pundit), and then The Federalist closed down its comment section, and then I got banned from Townhall and RedState. There are other websites sprinked in here and there as well.
Way back when I first began commenting online — at the NY Times perhaps 6 months into the Obama Administration — I never experienced any problems, despite posting comments that were contrary to what the usual NY Times commenter would post. They had a wonderful comment section back then, if quantitatively left-biased, where people weren’t engaged in ad hominem attacks and many of my comments were selected as “Editor’s Picks.” As the 2016 election season approached, Trump supporters and Bernie Sanders supporters all got along well and had civil, INTELLIGENT conversations almost until the 2016 election — perhaps because it was the Hillary supporters who were the REAL jerks — at least at that website.
But the NY Times comment section began changing shortly after it was discovered that Hillary had her secret stash of stolen federal records that the National Archives didn’t even know existed. That discovery happened in early March, 2015, as I recall. After that, as some people began calling for Hillary’s prosecution — probably more Sanders supporters than Trump supporters — and the 2016 election season began heating up, Hillary supporters had to find ways to defend her clear records-keeping felonies. That’s when the NYT began cracking down on free speech in its comment section, and I moved on to other comments sections thoughout the duration of the (first) Trump Administration.
Eventually, I landed at the Fox website, and my recollection is that it was sometime shortly after the 2020 election. My comments seemed to be very popular at the Fox website — accumulating over 200,000 upvotes in a few months or a year (I don’t actually recall how long that took, but I think it was on the order of 6 or 7 months).
Then suddenly one day it was like driving directly into a brick wall — that’s how suddenly the upvotes stopped. Not long after that my computer started experiencing serious problems, so I had to get a new one, and that’s when the Fox website no longer recognized the computer I was using to read comments. And THAT’S when I was able to see than many of my previous comments that suddenly began receiving NO upvotes were not visible to others, because I could not find those comments when searching with my then-new computer, though those comments HAD been visible to me on my old computer.
So all I know is that there’s some serious shadow-banning censorship nonsense going on with comment “moderation” in Murdochville (with the same shadow-banning of specific comments happening at the NY Post), and that it’s completely underhanded — not something that they publicize or admit to doing, and not something for which anyone’s holding them accountable. It’s a combination of shadow-banning and attacks by hardcore Fox trolls and NY Post trolls — probably Fox and Post employees — similar to the way certain commenters here in Turleyville go into ad hominem attack mode if one posts a comment that don’t like.
And for those who don’t know what “ad hominem attack” means, it means attack the commenter instead of addressing the substance of the comment.
OT
Moochhell Obama writes a book, “The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times,” and launches “The Light Podcast.”
Has she met the legal requirements for placing her name in contention and running for president in 2024?
Are Americans simply going to “gift” or deed over whatever remains of America to Afrexico?
Talk about original intent, that’s lost and gone forever, right.
Someone is going to have to pull a “Crazy Abe” Lincoln, suspend the Constitution, impose martial law, and seize power as the final act of common defense.
This is what our govt is up to. Using institutions to advance phony narratives.
Fauci has been caught hiring s scientist to write a paper with pre determined “scientific” finding.
They show he “prompted” or commissioned — and had final approval on — a scientific paper written specifically in February 2020 to disprove the theory that the virus leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China.
This is the problem with the trolls here. They either don’t understand what the govt is doing, or support the lies.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/new-emails-show-dr-anthony-fauci-commissioned-scientific-paper-in-feb-2020-to-disprove-wuhan-lab-leak-theory/ar-AA18fNFu
It’s all “phony narratives” and lies; communists have hired political “scientists” to write political “findings” that allow the wholly unconstitutional imposition of the principles of communism. Where the —- has the Supreme Court, with its power of immediate Judicial Review, been since 1860? The global communist Deep Deep State “Swamp” will firmly ensconce Moochhell Obama and put a nice, tidy, neat, little bow on the communist New World government. America and its constitutional goose are cooked. Every person in the world is an American-voter-in-waiting. Moochhell will win in a landslide of illegal alien, foreign invader voters. The communists have rescinded election laws, cheated on votes and stolen elections since violating the Naturalization Act of 1802 (they’re not even supposed to be here, much less vote) and nullifying the Constitutional requirements that voters be identified and certified, that elections be held on a “day,” one 24-hour period, and that ballots be cast in a “place,” aka polling place. Of course, the “Reconstruction Amendments” (one of which nullifies the power of States to implement vote criteria) are as illicit, invalid, illegitimate and unconstitutional as “Crazy Abe’s” high-criminal, breakthrough event, the illegal and unconstitutional denial of secession which led to his insane “Reign of Terror” and, ultimately, the incremental implementation of the principles of communism throughout America.
This from Anonymous earlier today. Estovir, your over-use of the word ‘fascism’ is so over-the-top that it renders all your comments meaningless and cheapens the whole blog. I went through every comment that has been made on this subject and I found that Estovir has not made a single comment. Anonymous sees a devil behind every door. Very sad.
TiT,
Estovir gave up social media commenting, to include this site, for Lent.
Dont expect him back till Easter.
That one Anonymous thinks Estovir is commenting as everyone else under different handles. For reasons unknown, that Anonymous cannot accept the fact you, I, Lin, James, Steve, and many others are actually individual persons.
Also has some weird fixation on Estovir.
I think it is a form of paranoia? Perhaps Schizophrenia?
“I think it is a form of paranoia? Perhaps Schizophrenia?”
Estovir holds the cross in front of this anonymous who recognizes his sins and is shamed. This anonymous used to have another well-recognized set of names but developed a tawdry reputation. He sees Estovir everywhere.
Jonathan: Fox is facing a new lawsuit. On Friday Media Matters filed a lawsuit with the FEC alleging Fox made an illegal contribution to the Trump campaign in 2020 when Fox shared campaign strategy from the Biden campaign with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. In its lawsuit MM claimed: “(Fox’s) actions are not only an egregious violation of the (Federal Election Campaign) Act and the Commission’s regulations, but also a nefarious attempt by people in power to operate a press entity as a political organization, in blatant disregard of the rules that govern our elections and democracy”. MM claims that Fox was “not acting as a press entity when Murdock provided the Committee [Trump] with Biden advertisements”.
I don’t think anyone is surprised that Fox is not just a cable network but really is a propagandist for the GOP. We see this in the Dominion litigation when Murdock admitted Fox hosts intentionally lied to support Trump’s false claim that he lost the election due to “massive election fraud”. And you are a paid propagandist for Fox. That has made you understandably uncomfortable and why you added a new disclaimer to your recent column: “My views on this blog are neither connected to nor approved by Fox…”. I don’t think any reasoned analysis of your columns believes that any more.
Dennis – when CNN’s Donna Brazile leaked anticipated debate questions to Hillary Clinton before a primary debate with Bernie Sanders and others in 2016, wss that a “campaign contribution” by CNN and Donna Brazile? https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/us/politics/donna-brazile-wikileaks-cnn.html
OT; Speaking of censorship and government infringement in freedom of speech. Florida sure loves to infringe on freedom of speech when it suits them.
“A Republican lawmaker in Florida wants bloggers who write about elected officials to register with the state, raising concern among First Amendment groups who are calling the proposal unconstitutional. Bloggers would have to disclose who paid them and how much, along with other information such as where the post is located online. They would be fined $25 per each day the report is late, up to a maximum of $2,500 for each report. The legislation would not apply to content on “the website of a newspaper or other similar publication.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/florida-bill-would-force-bloggers-to-register-with-state/ar-AA18i0PN?cvid=9fc05f662a7647639be1d956a3cd43ba
Will Turley cover this in one of his columns tomorrow or later today? It seems Republicans are dead set on censoring speech and the free expression of ideas. Even bloggers in this site would have to register (somehow) if anyone is posting from Florida and criticizes DeSantis or any Florida republican.
Trump/ DeSantis 2024!
Svelaz, has the bill in Florida become law? No it hasn’t. Svelaz is a person who said earlier today that he is a registered Republican but in every post he writes he reiterates the days talking points from MSNBC. There is nothing that this man will not say to support his opinions. Day after day he points out what he thinks are the flaws of Republicans and the he expects us to believe he is a Republican. Duel personality comes to mind.
“Svelaz, has the bill in Florida become law? No it hasn’t.”
That’s besides the point. It clearly shows Republicans are anti-free speech and are seeking to punish those who express criticism of Florida republicans or the governor. So much for being staunch defenders of the 1st amendment.
“Svelaz is a person who said earlier today that he is a registered Republican but in every post he writes he reiterates the days talking points from MSNBC. ”
Republicans can reiterate talking points from MSNBC. There’s no law against that. We republicans love our personal Liberty and freedom and that includes using MSNBC taking points. Ain’t freedom wonderful?
“Day after day he points out what he thinks are the flaws of Republicans and the he expects us to believe he is a Republican.”
Well, being a Republican gives me a unique perspective in what our flaws are. We have a lot of flaws for sure, but that doesn’t mean we have to admit them either. Which ironically it’s one of our bigger flaws.
” It clearly shows Republicans are anti-free speech a”
It shows you to be stooopid believing that one person pushing a bill represents all persons. If Republicans did that they would be voted out. Democrats like you can be Nazis, yet still loved by other Democrats.
“A Republican lawmaker in Florida” is not Florida. That you do not understand this is why so many don’t listen to a word you say. Some of the left-wing media writes for unintelligent people. They hooked you and you don’t know it.
Anonymous (S. Meyer),
“A Republican lawmaker in Florida” is not Florida. That you do not understand this is why so many don’t listen to a word you say.”
A Republican lawmaker who is part of the Republican supermajority in the Florida legislature IS Florida. They REPRESENT all of Florida. Didn’t you go to school? Didn’t they teach you basic civics?
Ha, Svelaz, you have a pea-sized brain unable to learn.
“A Republican lawmaker who is part of the Republican supermajority in the Florida legislature IS Florida.”
Are you so stupid? That one individual legislator out of 160 represents less than 1% of Republicans in the Florida House and Senate. You don’t know what the phrase, “part of” means. The rest of the Republicans will not agree to a law such as you describe. But we have to realize we are dealing with an idiot who has no critical thinking skills.
Whoever wrote the previous response was correct. You can blame me for his remark because if I was here, I would have said the same. It appears more and more people recognize what a fool you are.
Debating with you is impossible because you have no idea of what the facts are, and when you do your thinking process can’t use those facts to your advantage. All we hear from you are responses that have no meaning.
Look at how you have been torn apart by others on the blog.(John Say, TIT, Ed, lin,Hullbobby, Iowan, etc., along with less frequent commenters) Your dwindling number of friends might applaud you, and maybe one or two agree with your errant facts, but the rest can’t agree with a person representing the morons of America.
Again, not allowing predatory pedophiles curate your 2nd graders library is not an infringement on free speech, it is an infringement on predators’ predatory behavior.
It would not be a first for a guy like Svelaz to hoard child pornography. it is a Biden supporter thing.
“Maryland Mayor Arrested on Child-Porn Charges Visited White House at Least Six Times”
– AP
What was it he said “Speculation based on available information” ?
Maybe concluding that he is a pedo – “speculating on available information”
will give him a clue.
John B. Say. Wow. I thought such insults were way beneath you. That’s pretty sad man.
Apparently you can not read – my comment was a (hopefully) proof by contradiction.
The alternative is that both an insult and it is true.
Take your choice.
Regardless it is a demonstration of the flaws in your “speculation based on available evidence” nonsense.
Absolutely people do “speculate based on available evidence”
Some use meaningless or irrelevant “available evidence” to reach false, even dangerous conclusions.
Wise people filter out the garbage and focus on the significant facts and come to conclusions that have a high probability of truth.
Further they grasp – which you do not, that the significance of their conclusions is based on the significance of the “available evidence”. As an example they understand that you can not draw conclusions about whether someone was lying or telling the truth in the past, based on information gained in the future. Nor can you conclude that something that has a low probability is false, or that speaking of something with a low probability is lying.
All of which – and more you do all the time.
John, you explained to Svelaz why his comments are unacceptable due to ignorance and conflicting ideas. I don’t think he has the critical skills to understand what you said. Good job.
Anonymous, libel is a crime. Be careful of what you say to other when trying to insult others.
Nothing but speculation on available information.
That’s kind of the point. To show you an example of how stupid your claim is.
You must not have understood what many of the attorney’s on the list have said about such libel.
Worse, you do not realize that type of rhetoric is the basis of most of your responses.
Svelaz, that what a Democrat operative would say.
CIVILITY RULE VIOLATION HERE.
BAN FOR LIFE.
So says the dastardly girl with no name.
I am quite serious, it isn’t hyperbole: I am an Independent, and if you still support the modern DNC, you are supporting global fascism. Period. that’s it.You are supporting a regime that will throw you to the wind like seed that will never blossom. At this point it is quite literally that simple. Vote dem, vote for your own future enslavement, which apparently may not register until later on when your hands are so tied in regard to the autonomy of your own life and wishes. And it will very much be too late, and you will still blame non-dems. Vote differently now, or take up a rifle later. Make a choice. The entire leftist world hates our freedom in America, their thoughts and which they are oblivious to – we are very seriously getting to the pointe where we either talk or fight. That is not what I envision for our future.
Watched the Chris Rock Netflix special yesterday, and I love him, have since Nat X (a man so black, he sweats oil! Always loved him). Two points: without irony it was said that abortion is now illegal in most states, and by a guest, that racism, colonialism, slavery, and oppression were ‘invented’ by the British. The British are clowns, to be sure, but this appalling lack of knowledge is the only thing I could focus on, and hoo boy, is that some spectacular ignorance. It is common. And naturally, the black woman from Nigeria who uttered those words is wealthy beyond imagining compared to the rest of us.
Truly: I am not, myself, entirely sure we can fix this. Having said that, it is important as well to understand that Netflix specials or TV do not represent anything other than Netflix specials or TV. Do not think for a second that your voice or vote don’t count, that is what they want you to believe. Keep speaking, keep voting. And look at the polls, even the biased ones: most of us think this is all bull****. Be a human with human dignity or get the **** out of my face.
James,
At the rate things are going, a vote for Biden in 2024 is a vote for WWIII.
And, this wokeism insanity.
Big Yellow Taxi
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
– Joni Mitchell
___________
Dignity schmignity!
_______________
“It’s the [Constitution], stupid!”
– James Carville
_____________
Take America back to the Constitution. Take America back to 1860. America was legally intended to be “…free white person(s)…” who strictly adhered to the “manifest tenor” of the Constitution, not the communists who inhabit the nation now and impose the Communist Manifesto. The vote was never as crucial as the Constitution. The restricted-vote republic was designed to perpetuate the Constitution. One man, one vote democracy destroys the Constitution – one man, one vote democracy constitutes the “dictatorship of the proletariat” as pure communism.
Estovir, your over-use of the word ‘fascism’ is so over-the-top that it renders all your comments meaningless and cheapens the whole blog.
You are a putz.
Green Anonymous: And you believe you have added meaningful value to “the whole blog?”
“An old saying, attributed to Henry David Thoreau, maintains that you do not have to find a trout in your glass to know someone is watering down the milk.”
– Professor Turley
______________
Americans found a burgeoning veritable “school of trout” in their nation in 1860 after thereafter when Abraham Lincoln denied fully constitutional secession – the Supreme Court deliberately failed to immediately strike down the unconstitutional denial of secession by Judicial Review – commencing the incremental nullification of the Constitution and the incremental implementation of the principles of the Communist Manifesto.
Wholly antithetical and unconstitutional Central Planning, Control of the Means of Production (unconstitutional regulation), Redistribution of Wealth and Social Engineering prevail without challenge in America today.
Either modern Americans dislike freedom or they never knew they had it, that freedom was even available.
The American Founders eschewed “school[s] of trout” with a vengeance.
Jonathan: As with previous columns on this subject you claim the latest release of the “Twitter Files” “suggests” further efforts by the Biden administration to censor its critics. “Suggests” doesn’t prove any thing or that the Biden administration “had played us for chumps”. The GDI listed a number of media outlets that engage in “disinformation”. At the top of its list was the NY Post. Since you often cite the NY Post that placed you in an awkward position. So you have tried to undermine GDI–claiming it has provided a censorship system used by governments and private media outlets to censor conservatives. But there is no evidence either the government or media platforms have censored anyone based on the GDI. Under the previous ownership there is no evidence Twitter censored anyone due to pressure or orders from any government agency. In fact, the contrary is true. The Adam Schiff case is illustrative. Can you cite any case in which Twitter censored anyone directly as a result of orders by the government?
Which brings us to what Twitter is doing re censorship under Elon Musk’s ownership. There is an interesting column in the LA Times by Brian Merchant (3/6/23) that leads “The promise of free speech on Elon Musk’s Twitter is officially dead”. Merchant points out that Musk has just introduced a new policy that further restricts what people can say in their accounts. The new policy bans certain types of speech: “This includes (but is not limited to) hoping for others to die, suffer illnesses, tragic incidents, or experience other physically harmful consequences”. As Merchant says: “The expression of a wish causes no more harm than than any other insult. That’s probably why neither Twitter nor its competitors ever moved to disallow them in the past”.
The Q is why Musk would institute this new policy? Merchant thinks it’s because Musk, while claiming he is a free speech “absolutist”, has a thin skin when it comes to criticism of him or his companies. We have already seen Musk banning ElonJet, an account that tracked Musk’s private jet and any journalist covering the story. Musk gutted the content moderation team so it is unclear how he could enforce the new policy. Musk’s main goal in his new policy is to censor anyone who criticizes him or his companies. So if I had a Twitter account and posted: “I hope Musk gets run over by one of his self-driving Teslas” I could be banned. I don’t even think such a post on your blog would be censored. There may be another reason Musk has instituted Twitter’s new policy. He is under severe pressure from new EU regulations that restrict internet access for anti-semitic, racist, Neo-Nazi and other forms of hate speech. Unless Musk accedes to the EU he faces fines and other restrictions on Twitter’s access to the European market.
So while you falsely claim the Biden administration is engaging in “blacklisting” of its opponents Musk is doing it in spades. And he is doing it with just a key stroke on his laptop! I don’t expect you will factor in Musk’s “blacklisting” on Twitter because it doesn’t fit into your false flag theory that it is only the Biden administration that is censoring its critics.
Dennis McIntyre, we have Jeff Zuckerberg telling us that the censorship of the Hunter laptop was wrong. We have the very words of Twitter employees telling us of multiple attempts by the FBI to control who can be heard. Even with all the revelations that have recently come to pass you still persist in your refusal to accept reality. You were among the first to say that Trump’s words were the cause of violence and now you complain that Musk’s limiting real calls for physical violence is a bad thing. To come up with such reasoning you must have spent at least six hours last night to put your panties in a twist. You have been on the forefront of the more censorship brigade and now you have the gall to to point out that Musk is limiting someones ability to call for the murder of another person. Thank you for your transparency that allows us to make a judgement concerning the working of your mind.
CNN ex-boss Jeff Zucker told staff not to probe ‘lab leak’ theory because it was ‘Trump talking point’
A “well-placed” CNN insider told Fox News Digital on Monday that Zucker gave the order in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic.
“People are slowly waking up from the fog,” the insider told Fox News Digital.
https://nypost.com/2023/03/06/cnn-ex-boss-jeff-zucker-told-staff-not-to-probe-lab-leak-theory/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow