Below is my column in The Hill on the recent notice that this blog is now being formally “reviewed” by NewsGuard, a company that I just criticized in a prior Hill column as a threat to free speech. The questions from NewsGuard were revealing and concerning. Today, I have posted the response of NewsGuard’s co-founder Gordon Crovitz as well as my response to his arguments.
Here are is the column:
Recently, I wrote a Hill column criticizing NewsGuard, a rating operation being used to warn users, advertisers, educators and funders away from media outlets based on how it views the outlets’ “credibility and transparency.”
Roughly a week later, NewsGuard came knocking at my door. My blog, Res Ipsa (jonathanturley.org), is now being reviewed and the questions sent by NewsGuard were alarming, but not surprising.
I do not know whether the sudden interest in my site was prompted by my column. I have previously criticized NewsGuard as one of the most sophisticated operations being used to “white list” and “black list” sites.
My new book, “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage,” details how such sites fit into a massive censorship system that one federal court called “Orwellian.”
For any site criticizing the media or the Biden administration, the most chilling words today are “I’m from NewsGuard and I am here to rate you.”
Conservatives have long accused the company of targeting conservative and libertarian sites and carrying out the agenda of its co-founder Steven Brill. Conversely, many media outlets have heralded his efforts to identify disinformation sites for advertisers and agencies.
Brill and his co-founder, L. Gordon Crovitz, want their company to be the media version of the Standard & Poor’s rating for financial institutions. However, unlike the S&P, which looks at financial reports, NewsGuard rates highly subjective judgments like “credibility” based on whether they publish “clearly and significantly false or egregiously misleading” information. They even offer a “Nutrition Label” for consumers of information.
Of course, what Brill considers nutritious may not be the preferred diet of many in the country. But they might not get a choice since the goal is to allow other companies and carriers to use the ratings to disfavor or censor non-nutritious sites.
The rating of sites is arguably the most effective way of silencing or marginalizing opposing views. I previously wrote about other sites supported by the Biden administration that performed a similar function, including the Global Disinformation Index (GDI).
GDI then released a list of the 10 most dangerous sites, all of which are popular with conservatives, libertarians and independents. GDI warned advertisers that they were accepting “reputational and brand risk” by “financially supporting disinformation online.” The blacklisted sites included Reason, a respected libertarian-oriented source of news and commentary about the government. However, HuffPost, a far left media outlet, was included among the 10 sites at lowest risk of spreading disinformation.
When NewsGuard came looking for Res Ipsa, the questions sounded like they came directly from GDI.
I was first asked for information on the financial or revenue sources used to support my blog, on which I republish my opinion pieces from various newspapers and publish original blog columns.
Given NewsGuard’s reputation, the email would ordinarily trigger panic on many sites. But I pay not to have advertising, and the closest I come to financial support would be my wife, since we live in a community property state. If NewsGuard wants to blacklist me with my wife, it is a bit late. Trust me, she knows.
NewsGuard also claimed that it could not find a single correction on my site. In fact, there is a location for readers marked “corrections” to register objections and corrections to postings on the site. I also occasionally post corrections, changes and clarifications.
NewsGuard also made bizarre inquiries, including about why I called my blog “Res Ipsa Liquitur [sic] – the thing itself speaks. Could you explain the reason to this non-lawyer?” Res ipsa loquitur is defined in the header as “The thing itself speaks,” which I think speaks for itself.
But one concern was particularly illuminating:
“I cannot find any information on the site that would signal to readers that the site’s content reflects a conservative or libertarian perspective, as is evident in your articles. Why is this perspective not disclosed to give readers a sense of the site’s point of view?”
I have historically been criticized as a liberal, conservative or a libertarian depending on the particular op-eds. I certainly admit to libertarian viewpoints, though I hold many traditional liberal views.
For example, I have been outspoken for decades in favor same-sex marriage, environmental protection, free speech and other individual rights. I am a registered Democrat who has defended reporters, activists and academics on the left for years in both courts and columns.
The blog has thousands of postings that cut across the ideological spectrum. What I have not done is suspend my legal judgment when cases touch on the interests of conservatives or Donald Trump. While I have criticized Trump in the past, I have also objected to some of the efforts to impeach or convict him on dubious legal theories.
Yet, NewsGuard appears to believe that I should label myself as conservative or libertarian as a warning or notice to any innocent strays who may wander on to my blog. It does not appear that NewsGuard makes the same objection to HuffPost or the New Republic, which run overwhelmingly liberal posts. Yet, alleged conservative or libertarian sites are expected to post a warning as if they were porn sites.
NewsGuard is not alone in employing this technique. Mainstream media outlets often label me as a “conservative professor” in reporting my viewpoints. They do not ordinarily label professors with pronounced liberal views or anti-Trump writings as “liberal.”
Studies show that the vast majority of law professors run from the left to the far left. A study found that only 9 percent of law school professors at the top 50 law schools identify as conservative. A 2017 study found only 15 percent of faculties overall were conservative.
It is rare for the media to identify those professors as “liberal,” including many professors on the far left who regularly denounce conservatives or Republicans. It is simply treated as not worth mentioning. Yet, anyone libertarian or right of center gets the moniker as a warning that their viewpoint should considered in weighing their conclusions.
Yet, NewsGuard is in the business of labeling people . . . and warning advertisers. It considers my writings to be conservative or libertarian and wants to know “Why is this perspective not disclosed to give readers a sense of the site’s point of view?”
It does not matter that my views cut across the ideological spectrum or that I do not agree with NewsGuard’s label. Indeed, while I clearly hold libertarian views, libertarians run a spectrum from liberal to conservative. The common article of faith is the maximization of individual rights, while there is considerable disagreement on many policies. Steven Brill is considered a diehard liberal. Would it be fair to add a notice or qualifier of “liberal” to any of his columns or opinions?
It does not matter. Apparently from where NewsGuard reviewers sit, I am a de facto conservative or libertarian who needs to wear a digital bell to warn others.
It is a system that includes what Elon Musk correctly called “the advertising boycott racket.” Musk was responding to another such group pushing a rating system as an euphemism for blacklisting. For targeted sites, NewsGuard is now the leading racketeer in that system. It makes millions of dollars by rating sites — a new and profitable enterprise with dozens of other academic and for-profit groups.
They have commoditized free speech in blacklisting and potentially silencing others. If you are the Standard & Poor’s of political discourse, you can rate sites out of existence by making them a type of junk bond blog.
Yet, the fact that I have no advertisers or sponsors to scare off does not mean that NewsGuard cannot undermine the site.
The company has reportedly received federal contracts, which some in Congress have sought to block. It is also allied with organizations like Turnitin to control what teachers and students will read or use in schools.
The powerful American Federation of Teachers, which has been criticized for its far left political alliances with Democratic candidates, has also pushed NewsGuard for schools.
This is why my book calls for a number of reforms, including barring federal funds for groups engaged in censoring, rating or blacklisting sites.
NewsGuard shows that such legislation cannot come soon enough.
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).
N.B.: The original version of this column included MSNBC as an example of liberal sites that do not post their own ideological bent or label. I later heard from NewsGuard that they did indeed mark down MSNBC for failing to make such a disclosure, so I removed it from this blog column. I posted a response today on why I continue to oppose rating systems such as NewsGuard.
So NewsGuard wants to know who funds Res Ipsa.
Who funds NewsGuard?
Turnabout is fair play.
Newsguard is just an extension of the Goebbels propaganda ministry. But then again, so is the entire media industrial complex. Of note is the over the top coverage of the laughing hyena doofus, Kamala, who has no track record on anything. As the border czar, she failed. She has no foreign policy experience and who wants the vapid chameleon with the nuclear codes. The only thing she has going for her is that the media keeps bringing up her blackness (even though she is half Indian) while at the same time excoriating Trump for bringing it up. What has the GOP done? The chief RINOS bought into the clearly partisan attack that somehow Trump was a racist, rather than standing up to the media, per usual. These idiots should be calling Harris in front of Congress and asking her why she didn’t institute the 25th Amendment against Joe. Then we can get her face on the television, where she will have to answer unscripted questions like, “who is actually in charge and is authorized the use the nuclear codes?”. Her coverup of Biden’s incapacitated state is a crime. Apparently, the GOP is too stupid to bring this up. So the media industrial complex will continue to present Saint Kamala as the next black Einstein, while portraying Trump as the devil. Great country we live in. Newsguard is small potatoes. If Kamala gets elected, no one will be safe
It doesn’t cease to amaze me. The comments are about anything other than newsguard. This is the newsguard thread? No?
Turley– “my book calls for a number of reforms, including barring federal funds for groups engaged in censoring, rating or blacklisting sites.
NewsGuard shows that such legislation cannot come soon enough.”
+++
Amen to that.
I do wonder if a misleading or false rating could be handled as an actionable libel. There may be several ways to attack this evil.
The very fact that these self appointed (and anointed) guardians of “free speech” are fundamentally opposed to free speech tells all. To say that these “organizations” are chilling is a poor description of their true motivations and intent. While they adopt a rather innocuous sounding organizational name, NewsGuard, in fact they are more closely aligned to the aims of the KGB or SS than providing objective information. The far left in this country has gained immeasurable power in this country, corrupting the media, sports, corporations, primary and secondary education, universities, the judiciary, DOJ, CIA, FBI, and nearly every federal agency. The rise in American populism is largely an unorganized, homegrown response to this threat and without a groundswell of support of all freedom loving, decent Americans, the American experiment will likely meet an unceremonious, and dark demise.
Sir, what I have found is that although I am “conservative” in almost every sense of the word, I am not “Republican”. I agree with most of your writings and opinions because you clarify legal and illegal, right and wrong. I am NOT a Trumper, but your opening of the impeachment was spot on! When will people finally learn that there is the ability to disagree and still move forward in the same direction. There is absolutely nothing wrong with give and take. The Constitution fits both sides. My problem is that there are definitely extreme views on both sides of the political fence and they absolutely do not speak for the majority. I also enjoy watching people squirm when you give a legal opinion that supports anyone other than the very liberal pundits who think the world revolves around them. In my line of work I find those people usually are guilty and nervous about getting caught. Please thank your wife for your financial support LOL!
Sorry, if you think we can even talk to the Dems in a civil way to come to an agreed middle ground, you have been hiding in a hole in the ground. They have weaponzed speech, govt, and the justice sytem to censor and jail their politcal opponents. They want their political enemies dead. How can you even negotiate with unhinged people who want our children sexualized and perverted physically and mentally?
Precisely. However, the fact is that there’s little to debate since leftist views are mindlessly held.
It isn’t mindless. It’s deceptive. Children are being thrown to the wolves with the right hand and no one notices what the right hand is doing.
Cluster bombs are common. Trump shot, Biden resigns, kamala on board, offensive Olympic opening, speech about court , SS hearings in congress, northern Israel bombed is a created cluster bomb and it’s global. The question is: what is the right hand doing?
And that, taken as a whole, constitutes a “searchable database”. I’m not sure if your comment was deliberately disingenuous, or merely myopic. Even a series of ISAM files that each contain fields of foreign keys that have explicitly known relationships to records in the corresponding files meets the functional definition of a searchable database, whether or not those files and records exist within a structure defined in a formal DBMS. I’m quite confident that meets the definition envisioned by those who wrote and voted for the regulation. Let’s get that conduct investigated by Congress, or by a court presided over by an honest and rational judge, and see if they agree with you or with me.
“[T]his blog is now being formally “reviewed” by NewsGuard . . .” (JT)
NG claims that its purpose is to rate *news* sites.
Why is it meddling in *opinion* sites?
Fox Business: “Venezuelan President Maduro challenges ‘arch-enemy’ Elon Musk to a fight”
https://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/venezuelan-president-maduro-challenges-arch-enemy-elon-musk-fight
My two comments:
(1) If the Venezuelan election were as rigged as some people are saying, they would have elected Fake President Joetard. Venezuela has a LONG way to go to catch up with US election-rigging technology.
(2) LOL — This business with Musktard ending up being challenged to fights, or challenging others to fight, reminds me of the South Park episode about Russell Crowe. Google “Russell Crowe: Fightin’ Around the World”
Hopefully, Prof Turley’s encounter with NewsGuard will force him to acknowledge that the Democrats really are on the cusp of establishiing a police state. They will not be satisfied destroying conservative and Republican voices; they will also come for sentimental Democrats who dream of what their party once was, not what it has become. It is no good waiting until the trap is shut, when it will be impossible to get out of the cages the Left has ready for us. Those Democrats who can see what is happening, but have trouble forcing themselves to vote Republican, must make a difficult but solemn commitment to give their votes, and money, and honor, and voices to Trump and all Republicans this year. Possibly, the tide of dictatorship can still be turned back.
One thing I’ve learned over the years as an Independent, non-ideological pragmatist — and it’s been verified a number of times under various circumstance when dealing with both left-wingers and right-wingers — such as by being a Trump supporter who’s been banned from commenting at Mother Jones AND The Gateway Pundit (and various other left and right wing websites) — is that when it comes to ideologues, it doesn’t matter whether you agree with them 99 times out of 100.
If you dare to disagree with an ideologue just one time, they react as if you’d just strangled their kitten, and they turn on you the way Hillary turns on anyone that tries to eat one of her cupcakes. That phenomenon gets reenacted daily here in the Turleyville comment section.
“”Republicans have refused to certify election results at least 25 times since Trump lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.””
Thanks goodness for lawless Republicans. I hope in every district where Kamala wins they refuse to certify the results.
This will make our orange god king for life.
Yea for lawless Republicans who believe in laws for you but not for me.
“Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Madura rigged his elections, politicized and weaponized intel agencies and law enforcement, persecuted his political enemies, banned political opposition, ruled by decree, and destroyed the independence of the supreme court.
Sounds familiar?”
Very Familiar. Also done with approval of JR Biden. I am ready to be an Isolationist and start working on fixing the mess we have endured at the hands of the OBAMA regime between his coronation and his puppeteering thru a dementia riddled unelected President. Enough ids enough. God Bless America.
This is no different than an advertiser not wanting their add next to a white racist nazi rant about how great DJT is.
If this publisher does not want to be associated with a racist misogynistic person, is not that their first amendment right? Yes this is a German publisher but suppose it it was a U.S. publisher. If they don’t want to publish a racist piece of trash, is not that their right?
Or are you proposing to force someone to publish something they don’t want to publish? Just like you did not want to force a baker to make a cake celebrating a same sex marriage?
Consistency much?
You’ve never had a logic course, and rational thought itself seems foreign to you.
What’s more, the Inversionists seek to compel everyone else to accept the radically abnormal as normal. What do you think the new Democratic Party campaign to brand Trump running mate J.D. Vance as “weird” is all about? He’s an ordinary white male, a military veteran from a working-class family in the American heartland. Naturally, the party of race riots, men in women’s bathrooms, military drag queens, and sex changes for children are mounting a media offensive to smear Vance as bizarre.
https://europeanconservative.com/articles/commentary/a-civilizational-suicide-note-on-the-seine/
Reading your comment about Senator Vance
His book- formerly embraced & published in German translation by the Ullstein Verlag in Berlin – has been a bestseller for some years
Since Mr Vance has been recently chosen as running mate by former President Trump- his book will NOT be reprinted by the German publisher in spite of high demand.
What is curious is
THAT in the few media spots where this « ban » – so obviously politically motivated- has been mentioned it is referred to as the « Ullstein publisher «
Look up the horrific history of it & what happened to it & its owners/family
Springer, the media empire, acquired Ullstein in 1959. Mr Ullstein is dead & would have been mortified to see the tables turned using HIS name with this book banning.
And further more: about 40% of the GERMAN Springer media empire is owned by none other than the AMERICAN private equity KKR
It is shameful to look at the overall implications: from the German AND from the American side.
I’ve noticed that when closed-captioning is turned on on my TV, whenever J. D. Vance’s name is mentioned it displays as J DEVIANCE.
Should I be worried?
Yes, terribly.
Once again thank you for the links.
First, JT says he is a registered Democrat, but in Virginia (unlike NY for example) when you register to vote there is no place on the form to designate a party. Second, it seems like JT could have easily explained the blog name more as I am sure he does when he is teaching the concept to GW law students. Third, JT highlights the corrections part of the website, but does JT realize that no commenter has used it since 2020 and that people point out errors or missing information in the post where the it was made.
NewsGuard is another level of the mockingbird censorship machine. I don’t pay them no mind because I already know that my Rumble podcasts would blow their meter. The “Revolution In The Morning Show” and “The Trump Assassination Files” an ongoing expose on the continued political attack on President Trump.
Mr. Turley:
Please tell NewsGuard to stick it where it is Dark !!
The most interesting part about NewsGuard is that the name itself is Orwellian and that only in America would Big Brother also be a capitalist — making money behaving like Big Brother — reportedly (i) advising other people what to think and (ii) placing labels on websites consistent with this Orwellian mentality.
They called themselves NewsGuard because Minitrue was taken.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN MUST STAND BEFORE THE PRESS AND ANSWER QUESTIONS UNTIL THERE ARE NO QUESTIONS LEFT. FOR NEARLY 4 YEARS HE HAS GOTTEN AWAY WITH AVOIDING ANY QUESTIONS. NOW KAMALA IS AVOIDING ANY QUESTIONS AS WELL. UNACCEPTABLE!!
THE PRESIDENT IS SO DELUSIONAL THAT HE BELIEVES HE IS A UNIFIER. HE IS NOW ATTACKING A CO-EQUAL BRANCH, THE SUPREME COURT, AS OUT OF CONTROL MAGA EXTREMISTS BECAUSE HE DOESN’T LIKE ALL OF THEIR RULINGS!!!!! DANGER AHEAD!
THIS DEMENTED, ANGRY, LIAR IS A DANGER TO THE COUNTRY AND OUR NATIONAL SECURITY.
PEOPLE NEED TO WAKE TO EFF UP RIGHT NOW AND STOP THIS SENILE SCUMBAG.
I HAVE NEVER FELT SO AFRAID FOR OUR COUNTRY AND AFRAID AS A CITIZEN. I DO NOT FEEL SAFE AT ALL WITH THIS EVIL DEMENTED TOTALLY UNACCOUNTABLE ADMINISTRATION IN POWER.
WE ARE NOW UNDER AN INSANE AUTHORITARIAN RULE.
DO SOMETHING WITH THE POWER YOU HAVE GOP! NOW. NOT IN SEPT.
MAY GOD HELP US ALL. PRAY FOR THE COUNTRY.
Joe Biden and Kamala are authoritarians no different than Maduro.
2020 was stolen and everyone knows it.
They stole the 2020 election without a doubt.
After FBI Director Chris Wray’s testimony the other day, there is little doubt the assassination attempt on President Trump, that murdered one man and nearly killed two others, was an INSIDE JOB.
Chris Wray is rubbing it in our faces.
These people are pure evil.
They must be stopped.
“Amazing how Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to get off a headshot on Donald Trump from an invisible gun that not one law enforcement agency has been been able to show us
How long before we’re told it was destroyed by the FBI?”
Huh?
Did you see the photos? His body and the AR a few feet away?
That his father purchased it several years ago and then legally transferred it to the kid?
(That’s how they were able to track the gun within 30 minutes by looking at the make/model and caliber plus the serial number.)
Note: This can be done without creating a searchable database… although its close… Also note that the gun dealer who sold the elder Crooks went out of business so by law, the ATF has the sales records.
The Secret Service has a lot of questions to answer so why make up BS when the facts are so much more damning?
-G
“Where is the rifle?
Where is the drone?
Where is the ladder?
Where is the bike?
Where is the rangefinder?
Where are the explosives?”
Where are the answers from the freakin FBI?
Where are the answers from the freakin Secret Service?
IT WAS AN INSIDE JOB.
WAKE UP to the EVIL THAT IS OUR OWN GOVERNMENT.
You need help. They are not out to get you, relax, take a deep breath, repeat after me, they are not out to get me.
ATS – the right is far more relaxes and sane than the left.
At the same time – You ARE out to get the right.
That is not a secret.
It is not a conspiracy theory.
Whether it is censorship – by govenrment or private,
Whether it is sending SWAT teams against republicans on false allegations of non-violent crimes.
You just took out your own presidential candidate.
Why should anyone beleive you would not engage in extra legal and constitutional targeting of them ?
YOU might need to WAKE Up.
This government is after MAGA “extremists”. MAGA is being hunted and targeted. CLEARLY.
Have you woken up yet?
The U.S. government is NOT there to keep you “safe & healthy.”
WAKE the F up.
Or don’t.
Go get another “booster”. They are keeping you “healthy.”
And if you believe that, may God help you.
They are out to get you, they are out to…………
“The Democrat Party just installed a socialist as its nominee who received zero votes.
They cancelled the primary, refused to hold a new one. No one even knows who is running the country.
Has there ever been a bigger political scandal in US history?” @StephenM
Wow, get a life, they did not cancel a primary. The person that won the most delegates in the primaries decided not to run. So according to party rules, they will vote at the convention and the winner will be their nominee. That is how the rules work.
You can dream up all the reasons you want on why Biden stepped down. It doesn’t matter, he stepped down. The primaries are over, the convention will decide the nominee.
“He stepped down.”
Why did Biden step down? He never told the public.
To “pass the torch” 4 months from the election is not a valid or legal reason.
Was it for health reasons?
Was it because he was losing in the polls?
Was it because he was threatened by the Party elders and oligarchs?
You cannot “step down” in the middle of a presidential election because you are losing in the polls.
You cannot “step down” in the midst of a presidential election because you are forced out by the oligarchs controlling the Democrat party.
You cannot turn your entire campaign apparatus, including funds raised, over to the “next” candidate in line. There are FEC Rules to be adhered to.
Once again the Democrat Party screwed its own voters.
Once again Democrats refuse to follow any “rules” or “laws” or “ethics.”
When was the last primary they did not “rig” and screw over their own voters?
“The convention will decide the nominee.”
LOL. LOL. LOL. LOL.
Oh but they shout loud and often how they are “Saving Democracy” from Trump…
as they are the ones completely upending and destroying every last bit of it.
Wake up, useful idiot.
“Why did Biden step down? He never told the public.”
You have got two be kidding me. I do not believe you are that dumb. He did a speech on national TV where he explained why he stepped down. Now you can choose not to believe it but to say, “he never told the public”? Don’t be a lier like the orange felon god trump.
“To “pass the torch” 4 months from the election is not a valid or legal reason.
Was it for health reasons?”
Again, are you serious? So you want to force Biden to stay on the ticket because…? Once you win a few primaries you must stay on the ticket upon pain of death? I don’t get it. You have really drank the kool aid.
“You cannot “step down” in the middle of a presidential election because you are losing in the polls.”
Sure you can. You just don’t like it so you want to control other peoples actions just like the majority of maga maggots. No, you do not get to control other peoples actions.
Get a life.
“He did a speech on national TV where he explained why he stepped down.”
He lied. As he always does.
He was deposed. He was forced out, against his own wishes, by coup.
They threatened him with 25th Amendment if he did not withdraw from the race.
If the President is unfit in their eyes, then leaving him in office is reckless and endangers the country and our national security.
If they see Biden as fit to remain in office, their threat is a clear abuse of power.
It is also a violation of VP Kamala’s oath of office.
ATS – Wow!
I am not a democrat., I did not vote for Biden. I have no rights, or standing in this, nor do I care except as evidence of the incredible hypocracy of the democratic party.
It is well documented that Biden was FORCED out. Frankly we do not need documention – Biden himself REPEATEDLY – for the past two years has said – I am running and I am not leaving.
Then suddenly he did. He did after being starved of cash by big democrat donors.
He did after being publicly browbeaten by the media, democrat elites
He did after being privately stabbed int eh back by the leadership of the democratic party.
Much of the above was done in the open.
But even more was leaked – and the leaks were themselves part of the effort to FORCE Biden out.
Further we now have reporting by Hersch – and others that Obama, Schumer, Pelosi, Jeffries and Harris told Biden he could drop out or he would be removed from office via the 25th amendment.
And after that Biden drops out in a social media post and goes into hiding for days, lest he say something that unravels this coup and makes a real mess of the democratic party.
Nor is this hard.
Why did Biden drop out ?
Did he drop out because he was mentally incompetent ?
He did not say that. He has provided no reason for dropping out.
Did he drop out because he was going to lose no matter what ?
Harris is doing no better right now in here honeymoon than Biden was BEFORE the debate.
If Biden is actually senile – why is he still president ?
If as practically every democrats has said he is not senile – then why should he have dropped out ?
This was a coup pure and simple – the democratic elites who could have taken Biden out in 2020, or anytime since such that the Democratic party had a real primary and Democratic voters had a real choice. foist Biden on Democrats – twice, and when it was clear that was a mistake – they foist someone new on them.
This is YOUR mess – so I really do not care all that much – EXCEPT that it exposes how the Democratic party is STILL run by the elites behind closed doors.
I would further note this was done because this was very nearly the last chance to do so.
Which is also why Harris is the candidate.
States are required to start printing ballots – by law. The August convention date of Democrats is past the deadline for many states to change their ballots.
While I would love to see democrats run someone worth voting for – there is no such prominent democrat.
Beyond that it is not my business who the Democratic candidate is.
But it is quite clear that Democrats do not give a schiff about democracy or the voters.
You say democrats followed the rules – whose rules ? Not state law ? Not the constitution ?
While personally I would like to see government completely disentangled from Primaries – parties should run their own primaries as they see fit.
But so long as a Political party uses the mechanism of our government election system to select their candidates – it should NOT be the parties that make the rules, it should be the states and the constitution.
Had Trump actually been killed a week ago – Republicans would have been in a similar dilema.
But no one Shot Biden, and he did not “suddenly” come down with a bad case of dimensia – he has been slowly failing since atleast 2016. Democrats, the media, the left, and the rulers of the democratic party have KNOWN Biden was incompetent since before the 2020 election.
But please do not insult our intelligence and claim this is all democratic.
That Democrats are running the candidate their VOTERS selected.
Like always you have been exposed as hypocritical liars.
Actually it is quite disturbing that they were able to track it that quickly.
By Law the US govenrment – federal, state and local is Not permitted to track gun ownership.
When you purchase a gun the dealer is to gather and keep information – that information is forwarded to FBI/ATF who is supposed to check if there is some reason this person is not legally allowed to purchase a gun.
But they are not allowed to KEEP that information. It is also supposed to be kept by the dealer that sold the gun.
However when a gun dealer goes out of business – ATF comes in and takes posession of their paper records.
But AGAIN they are NY LAW not permitted to keep these in any kind of database. The result is that ATF has trailers full of paper records from defunct gun dealers.
So explain how without violating the laws against keeping a database of gun owners and their weapons the ATF managed to search through several hundred million paper records they have AND contact local gun dealers and get them to search through THEIR paper records – all in 30 minutes ?
The fast response to the search for the owner of the gun PROVED that ATF is in violation of federal law and has a database of gun owners and the weapons they own.
@John Say…
Uhm no. Tracking the gun without having a database was easy. Trivial. Here’s how.
1) They recovered the gun. They know the make, model, caliber and serial number of the firearm.
2) The ATF by law receives all of the records from Gun Stores (FFL Holders) that go out of business.
Now as it happens, the gun store where the father purchased the rifle had indeed gone out of business, so the ATF had the records which they digitized.
Here’s how they can do this quickly….
In a distributed file system (size and redundancy) you create a hierarchy of folders.
At the top level you have the manufacturer.
Then at the next level you have the model
At the next level you have the caliber. (You could flip these if you want.)
Then at the next level, you have serial number ranges (e.g 1xxx , 2xxx, etc … )
In the next level you have the individual serial numbers as the lead of the file names. And in each file you have a single .PDF record of the sale.
Now in a different directory hierarchy you have the last_name, first_name, etc as the file name so you can find all of the guns purchased by John Doe for example.
If this was a linux file system, you could easily use the find command to easily find if the file exists or not.
Then in a completely separate database you can have guns traced from the manufacturer to the dealer so that if the deal is still active, you could find out and start the trail of who purchased the gun and what happened to it.
Its that easy. And technically the ATF didn’t break the law.
What I described is one way of doing this and its the simplest. I don’t know if the ATF did that or not.
Now you know why they go into active stores and start photographing their docs which BTW is illegal but the gun store wont say anything because if they do, the ATF will shut them down.
-G
Of course…
I do not beleive there is any grand conspiracy here – beyond the fact that the DEI hires at SS are both incompetent and do not like Trump and therefore do not take their job seriously when protected him. They will be fired in January 2025 – if they last that long.
But that does not mean that my mind is completely closed to the possoibility that there is more to this.
Lots of the early reporting was wrong – that is to be expected.
Nut subsequently the Secret Service and the FBI have been deliberately witholding information.
Some of that is just in their nature – but it is WRONG and especially WRONG now.
It is unlikely that it will be possible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there is no broader conspiracy.
But if you wish to have any hope of coming close with the super majorities of people you need to not have speculation for decades,
then you need to be as transparent as possible as fast as possible.
Further over the past 8 years the FBI and Federal employees in law enforcement and national security have illegally used their power to “get Trump”.
It should not surprise you that a significant portion of Trump voters (and americans) do not trust the FBI with good reason.
People who have earned nearly everyone’s trust can afford to say – Trust me, and proceed slowly and carefully.
Those who we have good reason to beleive would attempt to frame Trump for staging his own assassination – they must be open and forth coming as quickly as possible.
“Note: This can be done without creating a searchable database”
False. Even if you presumed that ATF had every single paper record for every single gun purchase
although its close… Also note that the gun dealer who sold the elder Crooks went out of business so by law, the ATF has the sales records.
In 2009 it was estimated that there were 310M guns of all kinds in the US, Since then there have been about 20M gun purchases per year according to ATF.
That means that If the ATF had paper records for All gun purchases – which they are not allowed to do,
That would be half a billion paper records to search.
The ATF records from defunct gun dealers are actually stored in tractor trailers – if we assume that only 1% of gun dealers are defunct – it is likely far more than that, That means ATF has atleast 5M paper records to search through.
These records are not supposed to be sorted, entered into a computer.
Next remember the ATF did NOT start by searching for a specific gun dealer.
The FBI did not all up the ATF and ask for a search through Defunct Gun Dealer Joe Bloes records for Serial Number ####.
They asked the ATF to find the owner of Serial number #### ONLY knowing the serial number. Cross was not immediate identified. The gun dealer was not immediatley known, His father was not immediately known.
This was not a case where ATF could go – The FBI wants a gun sold by defunct dealer X – that will be in Trailer 347.
All they had to start was a serial number and a gun type. And if they were following the law – there was no database of gun owners and serial numbers.
This is not something that it is CLOSE to possible to do in 30minutes – unless ATF violated the law and has a database of guns and owners.
@John Say…
I just reposted a response.
The fact that the father purchased a gun from a store that did in fact close… the ATF had the record of the purchase.
Facts matter.
Again, there are a couple of different ways to do this where you don’t actually create a document database or put the data into a searchable database.
Technically. The moment you digitize the data… you can make it searchable even w/out a database.
And yes, I actually am an expert in data and data management.
-G
Gumby – no one is making things up. While I think the explanation that Crooks acted alone is the most plausible,
Reality RARELY provides us with perfect and incontrovertable evidence of anything,
WE have a Secret service that while still having lots of good people – has an upper eschelon of diversity hires who secretly wish someone would get Trump.
He have an
FBI and national security infrastructure that has manufactered evidence, lied to congress and to the people about Trump.
And that is the polite version.
We have a left that is constantly ranting about assassinating Trump and saying he is worse than Hitler – do you know how stupid you sound when you say that ?
As I said the evidence is not perfect. The flaws in the evidence – the inconsistency in the audio evidence of the gun shots, the video that might show someone on the water tower, the lack of transparency all lead many people to suspect there is more.
While I am betting that is wrong – it is NOT an irrational view, it is just less probable.
Actual irrationality would be beleiving Trump conspired with Putin or the Steel Dossier was real.
Thje same people who are accusing Trump supporters who are suspicious are the ones who sold nonsense over the past 8 years.
“The president wasn’t very sharp today. He is president for nearly six more months. This is a very serious and potentially perilous time for the country.”
CORRECT. WAKE UP GOP and DO something!
JUST SAY NO TO THIS —->. My God. Just NO.
https://x.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1817427543957365090
“Who is running the country right now?
Is it still Obama?
Is Kamala the “acting president”?
Where is Joe?
WTF”
Obama.