Below is my column in the Hill on the recent report of the House Judiciary Committee and the disclosure of yet another effort to silence opposing viewpoints by squeezing the revenue of individuals or groups, including Elon Musk and Joe Rogan.
Here is the column:
Few Americans have ever heard of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, let alone understand how it shapes what they read and hear in news and commentary. That may soon change.
An alarming new report of the House Judiciary Committee details this organization’s work to censor conservative and opposing viewpoints in the media by targeting figures such as Joe Rogan and entire social media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter).
It is part of a massive censorship system that a federal court recently described as “Orwellian.” The sophistication of this system makes authoritarian regimes like China’s and Iran’s look like mere amateurs in censorship and blacklisting.
In my new book, “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in the Age of Rage,” I discuss our history of speech crackdowns and how this is arguably the most dangerous anti-free speech period that we have faced as a nation. The reason is an unprecedented alliance of government, corporate, academic and media institutions supporting censorship and the targeting of largely conservative viewpoints.
As discussed in the book, there is a crushing irony to the current anti-free speech movement. During the Red Scare and the McCarthy period, it was the left that was targeted with blacklisting, censorship and arrests. It is now the left that has constructed a global censorship system that exceeds anything that Joe McCarthy even dreamt of in the control of news and commentary.
Through the years, I have testified repeatedly in Congress on this system supported enthusiastically by President Biden and his administration. It has proven to be a frustrating game of whack-a-mole for civil libertarians. The Democrats in Congress have uniformly opposed any investigation or action on censorship while denying for years that there was a coordinated effort between government and corporations. When we were successful in uncovering components of this system, they were often quickly shut down as the work shifted to other components and assets.
One of the most insidious efforts has been to strangle the financial life out of conservative or libertarian sites by targeting their donors and advertisers. This is where the left has excelled beyond anything that has come before in speech crackdowns.
Years ago, I wrote about the Biden administration supporting efforts like the Global Disinformation Index to discourage advertisers from supporting certain sites. All of the 10 riskiest sites targeted by the index were popular with conservatives, libertarians and independents. That included Reason.org and a group of libertarian and conservative law professors who simply write about cases and legal controversies. The Global Disinformation Index warned advertisers against “financially supporting disinformation online.” At the same time, HuffPost, a far-left media outlet, was included among the 10 sites at lowest risk of spreading disinformation.
Once that index’s work and bias was disclosed, government officials quickly disavowed the funding. It was a familiar pattern. Within a few years, we found that the work had been shifted instead to groups like the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, which is the same thing on steroids. It is the creation of a powerful and largely unknown group called the World Federation of Advertisers, which has huge sway over the advertising industry and was quickly used by liberal activists to silence opposing views and sites by cutting off their revenue streams.
These censorship groups typically proclaim that they are merely trying to promote “brand safety” when they target for suppression the same sites that challenge the political and media establishment. The group states that it “unites marketers, media agencies, media platforms, industry associations, and advertising technology solutions providers to safeguard the potential of digital media by reducing the availability and monetization of harmful content online.”
That “harmful content” seems to be the very same sites long targeted by the Biden administration and its allies in business, the media and academia.
The internal communications of these censorship groups demonstrate their contributors’ underlying agenda. In one conversation between Global Alliance for Responsible Media co-founder Rob Rakowitz and individuals with an associated “GroupM,” two executives explained to Rakowitz how they identified sites that they did not like and simply monitored them until they could find something that crossed the line. An example is the Daily Wire, a site hated by liberals for its conservative viewpoints and critiques of mainstream media.
In describing how they work to bag such sites, John Montgomery, executive vice president of Global Brand Safety, explained: “There is an interesting parallel here with Breitbart. Before Breitbart crossed the line and started spouting blatant misinformation, we had long discussions about whether we should include them on our exclusion lists. As much as we hated their ideology and bulls–t, we couldn’t really justify blocking them for misguided opinion. We watched them very carefully and it didn’t take long for them to cross the line.”
In other words, they preselected the sites and then followed their every move like a patrol unit following a car to wait for them to go one mile per hour over the limit.
This is called “deplatforming,” a favorite term from higher education, whereby liberal groups organize to shout down and block speakers with opposing views. The Global Alliance for Responsible Media is too sophisticated to simply bullhorn groups into silence. Instead, it strangles them financially.
Those who do not yield, from Elon Musk’s X to mega-podcaster Joe Rogan, were quickly added to the list to be deplatformed. Musk is particularly dangerous because he was responsible for blowing the lid off the censorship system by releasing the “Twitter Files,” detailing coordination between government and social media companies to silence citizens and groups.
To this day, companies like Facebook continue to fight efforts to disclose their own censorship files.
Musk has threatened to sue in light of the report. “Having seen the evidence unearthed today by Congress, X has no choice but to file suit against the perpetrators and collaborators in the advertising boycott racket,” he said.
A lawsuit would be difficult to maintain. These groups have a right to organize to silence opposing views just as book burners have a right to burn books. However, deplatforming, book burning and blacklisting have long been anathema to free speech values. They are efforts to prevent opposing views from being heard rather than to respond to such views on the merits.
And Musk is right in describing this as a “racket.” There is now a disinformation cottage industry where a wide array of academic and private groups are raking in a fortune targeting individuals and other groups for blacklisting, banning and censorship.
There are other groups working in tandem in this effort. For example, Newsguard was created by to Chief Executive Officers Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz to monitor and effectively blacklist media that they deemed misinformative or false. The site uses mainstream journalists to rate news sites, even though many of these sites have challenged the bias of the mainstream media.
Once again, the apparatus serves to shield that bias in targeting disfavored sites. The Biden administration has extended contracts with Newsguard to incorporate the system, and it is even being used in schools, despite complaints that it shows the very same pro-Democrat and left-wing bias.
There is a reason why projects such as the Global Disinformation Index have been largely concealed from public view. There is a reason Facebook and other companies have fought mightily to conceal their own censorship files. The anti-free speech movement is not a popular movement.
A majority of the public continues to oppose censorship. This is a movement that came from higher education and has been pushed by the political and media establishment, not the public.
That is why many of us in the free speech community are hoping that the 2024 election will become a referendum on censorship. Biden has given a full-throated endorsement of these efforts, even to the point of claiming that companies that do not censor American citizens are “killing people.” He presides over the most anti-free speech administration since John Adams.
So now, let him defend it with voters.
In 1800, that did not work out well for Adams, who was defeated by Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson had run on restoring freedom of speech. The public can now flip the script. It is time to defund and deplatform America’s censors.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage” (Simon & Schuster, June 18, 2024).
SCOTUS on Jack Smith in his “bribery” case against ex-Virginia Governor Bob McConnell:
Because jury instructions in the case of former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell were erroneous, and those errors are not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, McDonnell’s convictions are vacated.
Judgment: Vacated and remanded, 8-0, in an opinion by Chief Justice Roberts on June 27, 2016.
https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/mcdonnell-v-united-states/
Jack Smith gave erroneous instructions to the jury. Amazing. It demonstrates he is a reckless attorney prosector who learned from the best, Eric “held in Congressional contempt” Holder. Smith worked under Holder during the Obama reign of terror.
Judge Cannon saw Jack Smith for the corrupt prosecutor his career history demonstrates, including being rebuked by a unanimous SCOTUS in 2016
DOJ likely will not appeal given the optics. Biden’s DOJ has nothing to gain from appealing considering Biden is sinking like the titanic. That wont stop Leftists from using more violent rhetoric against Trump because it is all they have
Elon undoubtedly supports and adheres to the 5th Amendment.
______________________________________________________________________
“[Private property is] that dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in exclusion of every other individual.”
– James Madison
“THE DOOR WAS LEFT OPEN”
The Dallas Police left the side door open; it was always locked.
Jack Ruby entered that door undetected just before the “patsy,” Lee Harvey Oswald, was walked out from the basement to the subterranean parking lot to be transferred to the county jail.
Jack Ruby WAS GIVEN ACCESS and he took his shot.
_________________________________________________________
There is no excuse for that roof in Butler not being occupied by SS, FBI, State, or Municipal officers.
Winning!
Judge Cannon’s dismissal of Trump’s case IF, IF it’s upheld it would also mean Hunter Biden’s cases should be dismissed. It means Hur and Mueller were appointed illegally. But that is unlikely since Cannon’s opinion is clearly flawed. I suspect she did this to get off the case and let someone else take over. Her incompetence and bias has hobbled credibility as a judge.
Yea, you know more that a judge.
That and the “Book of Revelations” in Latin and Beowulf in Old English
🤡
George, the bipolar Confederate constitutional racist, in his Soviet Democrat Marxist Useful Idiot persona this morning:
Judge Cannon’s dismissal of Trump’s case IF, IF it’s upheld it would also mean Hunter Biden’s cases should be dismissed.
These cases could not be further apart. Your Internet Law Degree is worthless… sue to get your tuition fees back.
What IS different from the rest of the Special Counsels is that Jack Smith was NOT appointed from the potential pool of 30,000+ appointed federal prosecutors, as every single other Special Counsel has been. He was an Obama DoJ lawyer when he fraudulently prosecuted Governor Bob McDonnell in 2012 to take him out as Obama/Biden’s most feared potential opponent. The fact that his conviction of McDonnell was overturned in a rare unanimous SCOTUS decision, where they named Smith as a “threat to our separation of powers” should have been enough for normal Americans to be outraged. Outraged that Biden’s babysitter Dr. Jill (back in her original role with Biden, the family babysitter sleeping with him) had the balls to bring him back to do the exact same thing to Trump as he did to McDonnell. Grifter Jill will do anything to hold on to the bribery/money laundering gravy train.
But what disqualified Smith aside from his obvious Lavarentiy Beria style corruption to fix that election for Obama is the fact he RESIGNED his status as a federal prosecutor to go hide over at the Hague working for the International Court of Justice after his career was burned by SCOTUS back home in America. He wasn’t disbarred because the Washington DC bar doesn’t disbar even their lawyers who are felons after being convicted of perjury and manufacturing evidence to put before FISA COURTS.
Every single other Special Counsel was appointed from federal prosecutors with that status here in America. And that includes the equally corrupt Mueller – who is among the Obama apparatchiks who was never indicted and prosecuted for personally perjuring himself to judges in FISA courts to get fraudulent counterespionage spy warrants.
As for Judge Cannon – I can hear your wails of disappointment that she isn’t as rabidly corrupt as the carefully chosen Judge Merchan in New York, who’s been doing a Biden, with his daughter stuffing family pockets with the millions she makes as a political consultant selling daddy being the judge censoring defendant Trump.
We await your further wails of grief when Judge Merchan’s bogus Soviet style show trial gets thrown out just as hard as Jack Smith’s conviction of Governor McDonnell was tossed into the gutter by SCOTUS. Soviet Democrat trials in Manhattan don’t survive once they face the scrutiny of superior courts outside of New York.
That’s our George: a Cheap Fake American
I don’t think Hunter Biden’s cases are on the same level as “Special Prosecutor “ as he is not an elected official. The AG pursued prosecution of Hunter for lying on a federal gun application, with his next case coming in a conviction for millions in tax evasion. These are federal crimes and assigned to DOJ prosecutors by the AG, this is much different than investigating a President for his bribery crimes or his stealing and mishandling of classified documents which by the way he was determined guilty but not prosecuted because he’s senile and a swell guy.
The left hates Elon Musk because he took away their ability to censor and control the American people. They thought that they were on their way to total socialist control and Musk spoiled their party. Thank God that there are men like Musk who will stand up and say NO MORE!
I can define Elon Musk in one word–possibilities.
How many times can you count the word “fight” in this video?
I’d like to compare the cautious, fact-based information dribbled out on cable news after the assassination attempt to the vile, manipulative, paranoid, or just plain “infogamer” garbage swirling around “X”. Things like statements of “fact” that the Secret Service was engaged in the plot to assassinate Trump, and that Thomas Crooks was hand-picked as a proxy by the plotters, or alternatively that Trump planned the entire thing as a false-flag operation.
These are not mere “alternative viewpoints”. They do not seek to inform, but to manipulate.
While I 100% support freedom of speech that is fact-based, honest, and well-meaning, I’m not ready to accept the use of public infospaces for:
• intentional and premeditated deception
• intentional and premeditated intimidation
• urging lawbreaking
• gaming and pranking the public
I still am waiting for Jonathan’s audiobook, and am keeping an open mind as to what degree of incivility, militancy and hedonistic mischief (a form of online self-entertainment) he is willing to call “alternative viewpoints”. I’m curious if he thinks some agent provacateur sitting at a computer in St. Petersburg has the same free speech rights in the U.S. public infospace as you or I do. I am waiting to see if he thinks somebody out to intimidate Jonathan Turley by doxxing and threatening his children online anonymously is deserving of:
“I may not like what you are saying, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”.
There is no serious discussion of free speech in a free society without facing up to the vile abuses that flow freely when moderation is lifted, anonymity dissolves accountability, and wicked intentions are given free reign.
Yes, the “disinformation shops” that were exposed by Matt Taibbi are not limiting themselves to stifling the merely rabbid, manipulative and fraudulant, but also the politically disagreeable. But, advertisers have a vested interest in not having their adds appear next to brazen, conspiratorial infowarfare. So, there is a rationale for pressuring sites like “X” to either filter out the info-garbage, or lose the advertiser.
There are two ways to lose speech freedom. The first is authoritarian censorship. The other is pumping up false narratives, false flags, deceptive infowarfare, intimdation, and suborning lawlessness. In the latter case, the infospace becomes untrustworthy, or in the worst case, a vehicle available to wanna-be authoritarians to capture loyalty and power, and once there, to exert mind control through censorship and proactive infowarfare (PsyOps).
The latter scenario requires that limits on public speech only meant to manipulate, deceive, radicalize, threaten and unleash anarchy or totalitarianism. I’m NOT suggesting govt. have any role in setting these limits or policing them.
Absolutely not.
But, rather, that the People have the power to do this policing….in a manner that takes after defamation law….through public frauds lawsuits and public threats lawsuits.
Because if we surrender standards of civility in the name of expansive free speech, we will surely lose our ability to self-govern.
Pbinca writes,“Trump planned the entire thing as a false-flag operation.”
Trump didn’t plan a false flag operation. Crooks did. Crooks registered as a Republican to deflect blame from the Left. Crooks was already planning an attack of some sort when he registered.
If that was his plan, why would he donate a de minimis amount to a progressive PAC?
Come on, man. That makes zero sense.
Maybe he donated because he’s actually a Democrat?? Maybe he registered as a Republican to create confusion about his motives and shield the Left?? That is both plausible and consistent under the circumstances.
He was 20 years old, think about it! He’s been registered for 2 years, how many elections do you suppose he voted in? He was a mixed up kid, destroyed by the COVID lockdown and radicalized by the Democratic smear machine.
You are trying to look into the mind of an irrational man, which is foolishness. Where PbinCA fails is that various views ought to be permissible as long as the government is not involved in preventing those they do not favor. In this reply, I won’t touch on the problem of monopolization.
Diogenes,
It is being reported Crooks donated to Act Blue, a Democrat fundraising outfit, registered as Republican and voted for Nikki Haley in the primary. Progressives were told to register as Republicans in an attempt to influence the primaries.
I know of several people who do it. It is not illegal, but it also shows someone can appear to be registered as a member of a given party, but actually be of the opposite party.
Another good explanation, this time suggesting leftwing election interference.
Upstate, you proved the ignorance and foolishness of our leftist anonymous figures.
@Upstate and everyone
I can vouch for this. Was very much a thing in my former district before mw wife and I moved; so was registering undocumented people with their driver’s licenses. I just hang my head at the insidiousness of it all, and the salacious monster the modern left has become.
This is why the Electoral College matters. It limits the impact of blue-state cheating; otherwise, every state will have an incentive to cheat to keep up with the cheaters. Election disputes become inevitable… and so will civil conflict.
I haven’t seen these reports. How was it determined that he voted for Haley? Did the FBI find his fingerprints on a ballot?
I read that he registered to vote as a Republican in 2021, when he was maybe 17.
Correction: I said that some bozos on the internet made up the false flag claim. Your wording makes it sound like I made it up! Try to read more carefully.
You’re right. I’m wrong. I jumped the shark this morning.
Appreciate the correction and agree with the other posters that Crooks probably registered as a Republican to do crossover voting.
Free speech educated me this morning.
Diogenes: ‘Free speech educated me this morning.’
At least you can admit it while others here refuse to.
Good Catch, Well Said, and Spot On! Plus– Bravo!
You are more than kind 🙂
I wrote this yesterday, but… Democrats in Pennsylvania mounted an organized effort earlier this year to get leftist Democrats to register as Republicans to vote in the GOP primary to deny Trump the nomination. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that was what was behind his Republican voter registration. And the idea that Trump would deliberately incur a significant risk of death to improve his chances in a race that he already led is beyond absurd.
How would you handle the half naked guy down on Main Street with a long beard and a sandwich board saying the world is ending tomorrow?
On this site that would be worth 350 to 400 comments, easy.
I d buy him a beer and make him a reservation at the local titty bar for the day after tomorrow. That ought to cheer him up!
Soviet Democrat pbinca brings the Two Standards Model of the Soviet Democrats to display:
I’d like to compare the cautious, fact-based information dribbled out on cable news after the assassination attempt to the vile, manipulative, paranoid, or just plain “infogamer” garbage swirling around “X”. Things like statements of “fact” that the Secret Service was engaged in the plot to assassinate Trump
How about any concerns you felt about FOUR YEARS of vile, manipulative, paranoid, or just plain “infogamer” garbage swirling around then Twitter that Trump was Putin’s bought and paid for stooge? The Democrat politicians involved in illegally hiring one of Putin’s FSB operatives to write their “Russia Dossier”, giggling while tweeting their patriotic outrage that there was physical proof Trump – a well known germiphobe – paid Russian hookers to give him Golden Showers. Need a reminder of the names of your fellow Soviet Democrats who tweeted that lie for YEARS, pbinca?
How about YEARS of vile, manipulative, paranoid, or just plain “infogamer” garbage swirling around then Twitter that Trump said neo-Nazis were very fine people. Lies on Twitter launched by Soviet Democrat politicians. Lies that you only had to go read the transcript of Trump’s exact words to see he said exactly the opposite. Need a reminder of the names of your fellow Soviet Democrats who tweeted that lie for YEARS, pbinca?
I assume you were sentient through all those years?
Because if we surrender standards of civility in the name of expansive free speech, we will surely lose our ability to self-govern.
Any particular reason that you had zero standards of civility when it was Soviet Democrats lying their asses off to paint Trump as a traitor who sold out to Russia and a racist as bad as Bribery Biden?
You’ve had almost EIGHT YEARS to start walking the talk about your concern about standards of civility when your fellow Soviet Democrats were making those attacks on Trump, and you were silent. Won’t even mention it now. Eight years of your silence being your consent.
What suddenly happened to you, pbinca? Change in air quality over in California.
Classified documents case dismissed against trump
Classified documents for me but not for thee. Yep, two sets of judicial laws, one for the connected, one for the rest of us.
A cowardly Anonymous Soviet Democrat police state fascist tried this channeling of Soviet Democrat Laverntiy Beria style justice:
Classified documents for me but not for thee. Yep, two sets of judicial laws, one for the connected, one for the rest of us.
Restated: “It’s supposed to be repeat performance police state fascist Special Counsels for Trump, while it’s you-get-to-stay-out-of-jail Biden Special Counsels for Bribery Biden”.
Cue the Soviet Democrat police state rage as Jack Smith – who took out the Republican who was the greatest threat to then VP Biden’s re-election in the 2012 election got turfed from his mission to take out the greatest threat to President Bribery Biden’s re-election.
Who could be a better choice to “Protect Our Democracy (trademarked)” than Jack Smith, who SCOTUS while throwing out his conviction of the opponent most dangerous to VP Biden’s reelection called him “a threat to the country’s Separation Of Powers”.
Breaking News
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA WEST PALM BEACH DIVISION
CASE NO. 23-80101-CR-CANNON
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff,
v.
DONALD J. TRUMP, WALTINE NAUTA, and CARLOS DE OLIVEIRA,
Defendants.
ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT BASED ON APPOINTMENTS CLAUSE VIOLATION
Former President Trump’s Motion to Dismiss Indictment Based on the Unlawful Appointment and Funding of Special Counsel Jack Smith is GRANTED in accordance with this Order [ECF No. 326]. The Superseding Indictment is DISMISSED because Special Counsel Smith’s appointment violates the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution. U.S. Const., Art. II, § 2, cl. 2. Special Counsel Smith’s use of a permanent indefinite appropriation also violates the Appropriations Clause, U.S. Const., Art. I, § 9, cl. 7, but the Court need not address the proper remedy for that funding violation given the dismissal on Appointments Clause grounds. The effect of this Order is confined to this proceeding.
[…]
For the reasons set forth above, it is ORDERED AND ADJUDGED as follows:
Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Superseding Indictment Based on Unlawful Appointment and Funding of Special Counsel Jack Smith is GRANTED in accordance with this Order [ECF No. 326].
The Superseding Indictment [ECF No. 85] is DISMISSED.
This Order is confined to this proceeding. The Court decides no other legal rights or claims. This Order shall not affect or weaken any of the protections for classified information imposed in this case or any protective orders pertaining to classified information.
The Clerk is directed to CLOSE this case. Any scheduled hearings are CANCELLED. Any pending motions are DENIED AS MOOT, and any pending deadlines are TERMINATED.
DONE AND ORDERED in Chambers at Fort Pierce, Florida, this 15th day of July 2024.
_________________________________
AILEEN M. CANNON
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.648652/gov.uscourts.flsd.648652.672.0_3.pdf
I find it amazing that these incompetent lefties are only able to complain. They never provide knowledge-based comments while they whine away. Thank you, Estovir, for the citation that makes them look like the nincompoops they are.
It should be notes that a Cuban Federal Judge made this momentous ruling. She can smell a Commie when she sees one. Estoy muy orgullosa de ella. Im very proud of her
Smith and the Leftists defending him on Twitter / X, like Laurence Tribe learned nothing from the unanimous rebuke SCOTUS made of Jack Smith for his failed case against former VA Governor Bob McConnell. They slammed him hard:
“the uncontrolled power of criminal prosecutors is a threat to our separation of powers”
“ I find it amazing that these incompetent lefties are only able to complain. They never provide knowledge-based comments while they whine away.”
Says the guy who does exactly that.
All you are able to do is whine and make fact-less statements against another. You prove yourself a foolish clown every time you post.
It’s likely the DOJ will appeal to the 11th circuit. Now they can change judges if the 11th circuit overturns the dismissal. From a cursory reading of the ruling it seems Judge Cannon made a huge mistake. Either that or she purposefully got rid of the case because she would clearly be way in over her head. The dismissal is ignoring the fact that Hur and even Mueller were illegally appointed. Her reasoning is not very strong and it shows. The DOJ will certainly appeal.
” From a cursory reading of the ruling it seems Judge Cannon made a huge mistake. Either that or she purposefully got rid of the case because she would clearly be way in over her head. “
A dummy is trying to make sense of a legal decision. He provides his opinion based on stupidity and a lack of legal knowledge.
“Her reasoning is not very strong “
Such a statement does not provide any information demonstrating a worthless mind drifting nowhere.
Hey george, you say “The dismissal is ignoring the fact that Hur and even Mueller were illegally appointed.”
When a police car pulls you over for speeding, did you try to tell them that two other cars were also speeding?
WTF does he ruling have to do with Hur and Mueller, you idiot?
Those cases were not before her. Why wouldnt she “ignore them”?
LMAO
Rough 3 weeks for you, eh Svelaz?
Hur, mueller and Weiss were appointed the same way Smith was.
Weiss, according to Cannon’s ruling” did not have the authority to prosecute Hunter Biden. Both Mueller and Hur were appointed by the AG. Not the president or Congress. If Cannon’s ruling stands it would mean Hunter Biden’s case would also be dismissed.
Her ruling is now appealable to the 11th circuit.
“Weiss, according to Cannon’s ruling” did not have the authority to prosecute Hunter Biden. “
Based on Cannon’s ruling is meaningless because you do not know the relationship between this prosecutor and the other. Your fact-less opinions show us how ignorant you are.
Again, why does she care how anyone else was appointed.
Its you that cares. Proving that you are the sycophant and she is a judge.
George is working breaking his existing record of lies per day:
Hur, mueller and Weiss were appointed the same way Smith was.
No they weren’t – that is a lie. Hur, Mueller and Weiss were chosen from the pool of federal prosecutors confirmed to that position by Congress.
Smith was a citizen living in Holland in hiding after a SCOTUS unanimous decision threw out a conviction he obtained by lying to a jury about what the law said.
Smith is NOT a federal prosecutor nominated to Congress and then confirmed by Congress to the role of federal prosecutor. He’s an American police state fascist civilian who was living in hiding over in Holland. Which is why he just got thrown out on his Lavarentiy Beria type ass – he isn’t on the list of eligible federal prosecutors who can be appointed Special Counsel.
Is Confederate George either lying again – or is he actually this stupid:
The dismissal is ignoring the fact that Hur and even Mueller were illegally appointed.
George doesn’t notice that Hur, Mueller, et al were Special Counsels chosen from the pool of about 30,000 federal prosecutors who became federal prosecutors through being nominated to and approved by Congress.
But civilian Jack Smith, working overseas at The Hague, was the first and only Special Counsel picked out of the civilian ranks.
George isn’t curious that with a pool of roughly 30,000 federal prosecutors to choose from, NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM met the criteria of an independent and unbiased Special Counsel with no connections to the DoJ – and that’s why they had to go find DISGRACED civilian Jack Smith hiding over in Holland and bring him back.
That would be the Jack Smith that SCOTUS in 2016 called a prosecutor who was a threat to democracy. The Jack Smith that in his 2012 Lavarentiy Beria prosecution of Governor McDonnell, worked with now Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco who was also working for Obama back in that 2012 election campaign prosecution. No connections to the current DoJ in that Jack Smith – Lisa Monaco 2012 gang.
When it comes to ignoring what is plainly visible in sight, nobody can beat Confederate George at that.
Which leaves the question: is George lying again – or is he actually this stupid?
“One of the most insidious efforts has been to strangle the financial life out of conservative or libertarian sites by targeting their donors and advertisers.”
What is that type of action called (strangling the financial life)? Monopolization. But they have gone further, monopolizing with a government “charter.”
Musk is correct in suing to end the online censorship racket, and such a suit is warranted based on the entities that have been strangled by a monopoly created in part by the government. Why are some good people afraid to fight the bad ones in court?
I don’t understand Turley’s hesitation in rectifying a wrong. Isn’t that what lawyers are supposed to do? Lawyers should put on their white hats and fight the bad guys.
Although an immediate win may not occur, such legal actions can open up discovery, revealing many dirty things.
Apparatchiks have one reaction to dissent and we saw that Saturday.
Only the risk of an eye for an eye stops a leftist.
As Musk wrote, with your concurrence, this does strike me as a “racket.” A coordinated effort with the goal of not only shutting down free speech, but to cause demonstrable economic harm to disfavored writers and publishers. As such, would there be a basis for a civil RICO case? I leave it up to more scholarly legal minds, such as your own, to answer that question. Thank you for your relentless defense of our civil rights.
Jonathan: “Anonymous” @ 9:59 am today expresses my sentiments exactly about Elon Musk. He has brought back censorship at the former Twitter for anyone who disagrees with him and then sues them if they don’t want to advertise on his fascist platform. That’s why I never signed up for “X”!
Dennis, have you been on X recently? Have you seen the speech by Sisson, Reiner and Schiff that Musk has allowed on the X platform. Your victimhood spiel lost its wings long ago so it just don’t fly around here.
tsk. tsk.
Such casual flinging about (and use of) the word “fascist” for everything not liked or approved of, –obviously the buzz word of the year.
What we need do is become is informed users and avoid patronizing sights such as facebook and MSNBC where we know they willingly slant info to pursue a personal agenda. Sure, they are free to censor their private organizations BUT I don’t need to assist them in doing so. Just as was done to Bud Lite, so should smart people avoid such enterprises and hurt them where they feel it – in their pockets.
Jonathan: I am proud to announce one of my nephews, Robert MacIntyre, just won the Genesis Scottish Open at Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland. I played Robert once when he was a junior. Stayed even through the front nine!
Speaking of golf, DJT is now toxic in the golf world. He can’t even visit his golf courses in the UK because he is now a “convicted felon”. No PGA tournament was scheduled this year at one of DJT’s courses. Even the Saudi-backed LIV won’t touch him. The residents of Aberdeen, Scotland hate him for destroying the vast majority of the protected sand dunes when he built his club there in 2012–despite DJT’s promises he would not to do that. Since opening his club has lost millions.
And things look bleak for DJT’s golf properties here in the US. The NJ AG is probably going to yank DJT’s liquor licenses for Bedminster if he loses his appeal of his 34-count criminal conviction. That could prove devastating for the Trumpster because liquor sales at Bedminster are a major source of income.
By the way, I sent a note to DJT wishing him a speedy recovery.
This is not your website. No one cares about your family. Why do you persist?
Judge dismisses Trump’s classified documents case, rules special counsel unlawfully appointed
https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/judge-dismisses-trumps-classified-documents-case
What does this have to do with the topic at hand?
Dennis McIntyre, proud of Bribery Biden’s ability to play golf with his ChiCom government partners turned to golf:
“Speaking of golf, DJT is now toxic in the golf world. He can’t even visit his golf courses in the UK because he is now a “convicted felon”.
Meanwhile, ChiCom and Putin government agents were paying Bribery Biden tens of millions of dollars to be their partner in a golf game are celebrated by Baghdad Bob McIntyre. What ELSE could they have possibly been paying The Big Guy for, Baghdad Bob?
Similarly, back home here in America, the hajji terrorists and convicted felons of America get the welcome doormat put in front of the White House while The Unindicted Felon Bribery Biden and The First Felon Son, The Crackhead Kid, continue merching out the White House.
Speaking of that other felon Biden in the Biden White House Crime LLC partnership… The First Felon Son: does Baghdad Bob McIntyre have any concerns about the demented corrupt Bribery Biden sharing the nuclear codes with his primary advisor, the smartest man he’s ever met, The Family Cashier Formerly Known As The Crackhead Kid? (note to Baghdad Bob McIntyre: so much for Bolshevik Barack supposedly being the smartest guy in the room)
Is sharing nuclear codes better or worse than The Big Guy sharing 40 years of stolen classified information with The First Felon Son, in his previous life of just being The Crackhead Kid with his ChiCom and Putin customers?
My guess is that Scotland isn’t going to decide they want to side with the police state fascist prosecutions of Trump when he is President Trump again and Bribery Biden is out.
And it is going to be easy for them to do that when a higher court throws out the convictions that Merchan allowed by turning a blind eye to judicial procedure – while he was merching out his courtroom, providing a platform for his daughter to collect millions of dollars to funnel into Judge Merchan Family pockets.
MEANWHILE… a new Attorney General may look at the evidence of 40 years of Bribery Biden felonies and say he disagrees with a low level prosecutor chosen to be a minor Special Counsel, substituting his opinion of what a jury would decide. Because that’s just not how it works – even though Hur followed the standard set by FBI Director Comey substituting his opinion for that of the Attorney General using the same get out of jail theory.
Then followed by swiftly indicting The Big Guy, prosecuting him once out of the presidency and everyone else that was part of their Soviet Democrat crime wave that Obama allowed during his eight years in office, and let a jury in Oklahoma, Kansas, etc decide whether he should be acquitted because he’s a nice old guy.
Dennis got a plan for that eventuality?
Free speech for me but not for thee. Thanks JT but no thanks.
Elon musks sensors most things bad about him. Not only that, he threatens lawsuites against people that talk bad about him. This is the free speech universe you want? No thanks.
Elon musks is basically saying to advertisers, pay me advertising dollars or I’ll sue you. Yea, free speech for me but not for thee.
If I have a product for sale and I want to advertise. I do not want my advertisement next to a ranting idiot with a confederate flag. Isn’t that my free speech right to not be associated with racist fascists? Or is do you mean by free speech that I must support everything you say but I am not allowed to not associate with it?
Dear Mr. Turley, I greatly appreciate GEB. He is spot on as usual. My thought is the Left was completely taken aback by Mr. Musk’s purchase of Twitter, now known as “X”. The Left controlled the social media outlets for years. Through this purchase, Mr. Musk was able to open up the “files” and expose the ugly truth hidden there. Using an independent journalist, he brought the hypocrisy to light. One can only hope that more brave souls will come forward regarding the distinct bent toward the Liberals in their algorithms at Facebook and Google. This bent towards the Liberal thought is the true danger to democracy.
Turls: Sorry, your book has moved down my reading list primarily because of your, you know, astounding hypocrisy on the issue of free speech, but….
I’m looking forward to reading your chapter in the book about what’s going on around censorship in Florida by Florida democrats….
Ummm, no wait…, never mind. My bad.
“Global Alliance for Responsible Media, which is the same thing on steroids. It is the creation of a powerful and largely unknown group called the World Federation of Advertisers, which has huge sway over the advertising industry and was quickly used by liberal activists to silence opposing views and sites by cutting off their revenue streams.”
To which the Left’s apologists reply: But that’s not censorship. GARM and WFA made their own choices. There was no coercion.
When you contract for a murder, you are a murderer.
When a government official contracts for censorship, he is a censor.
You misunderstanding of GARM is Professor Turley’s fault.
This is not a government organization, nor does it receive government funding.
In fact, the lion’s share of the Congressional report he cites relates to potential antitrust legal challenges. How many times does Turley reference antitrust in this post?
“[GARM] is not a government organization, nor does it receive government funding.”
Your latter point is false.
GARM is a WEF project — which most definitely receives funding from governments all over the world.
The censorship by proxy claim is accurate.
Any evidence to back up (a) US government’s funding of WEF; and (b) clarity regarding how many of those dollars actually were received by GARM?
otherwise this is just made up.
“Any evidence to back up . . .”
Yes. (And as I noted: “from governments *all over the world*.”) Ask WEF.