This week the January 6th Committee voted to make criminal referrals to the Justice Department, including the proposed indictment of former President Donald Trump. However, the Committee’s splashy finale lacked any substantial new evidence to make a compelling criminal case against former President Donald Trump. The Committee repackaged largely the same evidence that it has previously put forward over the past year. That is not enough. Indeed, the reliance on a new videotape of former Trump aide Hope Hicks seems a case of putting “hope over experience” in the criminal Justice system.
Category: Politics
There is an interesting controversy this week after ABC’s Martha Raddatz took Texas GOP Governor Greg Abbott to task for public comments about the open Southern border as fueling the crisis. Raddatz is being criticized for her claim that President Joe Biden has never encouraged migrants to come over the border — a statement that many objected to as demonstrably false. However, I am more interested in a different aspect of her remarks: the objection to Abbott’s language. It is the type of objection that one finds from a system of state media where the narrative is supposed to be replicated and uniform. Continue reading “ABC’s Martha Raddatz Under Fire Over Abbott Interview”
The December Harvard CAPS / Harris Poll is out this week and Mark Penn and his colleagues have some interesting results to share. Despite the refusal of many in the media to cover the Twitter files, nearly two-thirds of voters believe Twitter shadow-banned users and engaged in political censorship during the 2020 election. Seventy percent of voters want new national laws protecting users from corporate censorship.
Despite my support for Elon Musk’s continuing efforts to reduce censorship and restore free speech protections on Twitter, I have been critical of some of his moves from his use of polls on restoring certain posters to the suspensions of media figures this week. However, this morning, I was struck by the European Union (EU) rushing into the controversy to threaten, again, sanctions against Musk. The EU is apparently aghast that Twitter could suspend media even temporarily after ignoring the bans on conservative media for years under the old management. Continue reading “EU Threatens Musk With Sanctions Over Suspending Media…After Ignoring Media Bans Under Old Twitter”
Below is my column in the New York Post on the potential liability of the parents of Sam Bankman-Fried. It is not uncommon for federal prosecutors to go after family members to induce a plea by a defendant. In this case, the reported involvement of the parents in some of operations or payments magnifies that risk.
Here is the column:
Continue reading ““Effective Altruism”: Could SBF’s Parents Be the Key to a Plea?”
Below is my column in the New York Post on the very public plan to target potential witnesses — and even media — in the Biden influence peddling scandal. It is rare to see such a scorched Earth campaign intentionally made public. When Hillary Clinton’s campaign funded the Steele dossier, it hid its role and even denied the funding when asked by reporters. This was clearly an effort to not only reveal the plan but to specifically declare the potential targets, including key witnesses, against the Bidens.
Here is the column: Continue reading “The Legion of Democratic Doom? Biden Operatives Plan “Swat Force” on Hunter Biden Scandal”
Below is a slightly augmented version of my column in the Hill on the latest release of the Twitter files, confirming long-denied use of shadow banning and other techniques to suppress conservative and dissenting viewpoints.
Here is the column: Continue reading “From Shadow Bans to Black Lists, Musk Forces a Free-Speech Reckoning for Politicians and Pundits”
Below is my column in Fox.com on the potential criminal liability for Twitter executives, particularly Jack Dorsey, after the release of the Twitter files. While more material is being released, the files appear to contradict denials of Dorsey that there was no censorship or shadow banning targeting conservatives. As I note below, there are obvious defenses and much must still be learned about the underlying facts. However, Dorsey and others should clearly retain counsel in light of the contradictions in these files.
Here is the column: Continue reading “Dupe or Designated Defendant? The Criminal Case Against Jack Dorsey”
Below is my column in the New York Post on the second release of the “Twitter Files.” The new material exposes the company’s system of censorship and suppression of disfavored views. The documents shatter prior statements of Twitter, including statements made to Congress. As discussed below, there could be legal as well as political ramifications as the House moves forward with the long-delayed investigation of these social media companies.
For years, the “Trust” professionals have insisted that the public should “trust us, we’re Twitter.” Now the public has direct evidence that the company not only engaged in raw, biased censorship but misled them on how Twitter was manipulating the discussion of political issues. Ernest Hemingway said that “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” That trust in Twitter was clearly misplaced.
Here is the column:
Last week, many of us expressed alarm over a statement by former President Trump that we might have to “terminate” constitutional rules in light of the release of the Twitter files. He has now denied saying that but repeats that the disclosures should mean that the election is “redone.” There are no constitutional Mulligans in presidential elections.
Continue reading “A Constitutional Mulligan? Trump Calls Again for a “Redo” of the 2020 Election”
Below is my column on the media response to the “Twitter Files,” including misleading narratives being repeated across various media platforms. The effort is to assure the public that there is “nothing to see here” but it may backfire. After Twitter employed one of the most extensive censorship systems in history to prevent people from reading opposing views on subjects from Covid to climate change, media figures are now insisting that the public should really not be interested.
The public, however, is not buying it. They are buying Twitter. With users signing up to Twitter in record numbers, a majority supports Musk’s efforts to restore free speech protections and to force greater transparency despite an unrelenting counter campaign in the media. Some of the media claims would meet the very definition of disinformation used by Twitter and its allies previously to censor information and discussions. Indeed, the Wall Street Journal has noted that the greatest purveyors of disinformation turned out to be former intelligence officials who worked to kill the story before the election as “Russian disinformation.” The public seems to be following the old adage “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”
Here is the column:
Below is my column in the Hill on the recent disclosures in the “Twitter Files” on the coordination of censorship between the company and both Biden and Democratic party operatives. Beyond personally attacking Elon Musk and Matt Taibbi, many have resorted to the same old saw of censorship apologists: it is not censorship if the government did not do it or direct it. That is clearly untrue. Many groups like the ACLU define censorship as denial of free speech by either government or private entities. It is also worth noting that this censorship (and these back channels) continued after the Biden campaign became the Biden Administration. Moreover, some of the pressure was coming from Democratic senators and House members to silence critics and to bury the Hunter Biden influence peddling scandal.
Here is the column: Continue reading “Censorship by Surrogate: Why Musk’s Document Dump Could be a Game Changer”
Below is my column in the New York Post on the reemergence of James Baker, the former FBI general counsel, at the center of the Twitter suppression scandal.
Here is the column:
There was a time when the disclosure of a back channel for politically motivated censorship would have generated widespread acclaim and called for awards. This is not that time. Just ask Matt Taibbi.
Continue reading ““A Cautionary Tale for Everyone”: The Media Mob Turns on Taibbi”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau left many of us gobsmacked this week when he denounced China for its crackdown on protesters. Many of us denounced Trudeau for his authoritarian crackdown on truckers protesting Canada’s Covid policies. Trudeau used terrorist laws to freeze bank accounts, treat truckers as terrorists, and treat trucks as effective weapons. This is a continuation of Trudeau’s utter lack of self-awareness (and the media continuing lack of objectivity). He previously was praised for his stance against Cuba’s crackdown on protesters.