Not even two months into their reign as the majority party that controls the White House and both houses of Congress, key Democrats have made clear that one of their top priorities is censorship of divergent voices. On Saturday, I detailed how their escalating official campaign to coerce and threaten social media companies into more aggressively censoring views that they dislike — including by summoning social media CEOs to appear before them for the third time in less than five months — is implicating, if not already violating, core First Amendment rights of free speech.
Now they are going further — much further. The same Democratic House Committee that is demanding greater online censorship from social media companies now has its sights set on the removal of conservative cable outlets, including Fox News, from the airwaves.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Monday announced a February 24 hearing, convened by one of its sub-committees, entitled “Fanning the Flames: Disinformation and Extremism in the Media.” Claiming that “the spread of disinformation and extremism by traditional news media presents a tangible and destabilizing threat,” the Committee argues: “Some broadcasters’ and cable networks’ increasing reliance on conspiracy theories and misleading or patently false information raises questions about their devotion to journalistic integrity.”
Since when is it the role of the U.S. Government to arbitrate and enforce precepts of “journalistic integrity”? Unless you believe in the right of the government to regulate and control what the press says — a power which the First Amendment explicitly prohibits — how can anyone be comfortable with members of Congress arrogating unto themselves the power to dictate what media outlets are permitted to report and control how they discuss and analyze the news of the day?
But what House Democrats are doing here is far more insidious than what is revealed by that creepy official announcement. Two senior members of that Committee, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Silicon-Valley) and Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA) also sent their own letters to seven of the nation’s largest cable providers — Comcast, AT&T, Spectrum, Dish, Verizon, Cox and Altice — as well as to digital distributors of cable news (Roku, Amazon, Apple, Google and Hulu) demanding to know, among other things, what those cable distributors did to prevent conservative “disinformation” prior to the election and after — disinformation, they said, that just so happened to be spread by the only conservative cable outlets: Fox, Newsmax and OANN.
In case there was any doubt about their true goal — coercing these cable providers to remove all cable networks that feature conservative voices, including Fox (just as their counterparts on that Committee want to ban right-wing voices from social media) — the House Democrats in their letter said explicitly what they are after: namely, removal of those conservative outlets by these cable providers:
Congresswoman Eshoo boasted on her official site about these efforts, lauding herself and McNerney for “urging 12 cable, satellite, and streaming TV companies to combat the spread of misinformation and requesting more information about their actions to address misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories, and lies spread through channels they host.”
For the last four years, we were inundated with media messaging that Trump posed an unprecedented threat to press freedoms. The Washington Post even flamboyantly adopted a new motto to implicitly ratify that accusation (while claiming it was not Trump-specific). Other than the indictment of Julian Assange — which most Washington Democrats cheered — what did the Trump administration do in the way of attacking press freedoms that remotely compares to Democrats abusing their majoritarian power to force the removal of conservative cable outlets from the airwaves, just days after doing the same with dissident voices online?
There is not a peep of protest from any liberal journalists. Do any of the people who spent four years pretending to care so deeply about the vital role of press freedom have anything to say about this full frontal attack by the majority party in Washington on news outlets opposed to their political agenda and ideology?
Evidently not. While many conservative outlets are covering this story, it is difficult to find any liberal outlets writing about it at all. An article from The New York Times was one exception, though it largely attempted to justify these censorship efforts, with paragraph after paragraph purporting to demonstrate the dangerous misinformation spread by these channels. The only nods to the dangers of press freedoms in the article came from statements by Fox News and a GOP member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Revealingly, these same two members of Congress who sent this threatening letter to cable providers said during the Trump years that freedom of the press must be safeguarded at all costs. “The First Amendment prohibits Congress from making laws that abridge the freedom of the press, and we cherish our country’s culture of free expression,” they intoned when writing to the FCC in 2019 to complain that Russian news outlets were concealing their affiliation with the Kremlin. “We’re not requesting any press censorship,” they assured the FCC under Trump. Yet they are clearly doing exactly that now.
In a statement he emailed to me and publicly posted, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr denounced the Democrats’ actions as a “marked departure from First Amendment norms.” He said “it is a chilling transgression of the free speech rights that every media outlet in this country enjoys.” In response to my inquiries, Commissioner Carr added in a separate statement to me:
The greatest threat to free speech in America today is not any law passed by the government—the First Amendment stands as a strong bulwark against that form of censorship by state action. The threat comes in the form of legislating by letterhead. Politicians have realized that they can silence the speech of those with different political viewpoints by public bullying. The letter sent by two senior Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to cable companies and other regulated entities, and the Committee’s own hearing this week on “disinformation in the media,” are the latest examples. They are singling out selected newsrooms for their coverage of political events and sending a clear message that these media outlets will pay a price if they do not align their viewpoints with Democrat orthodoxy. That is a chilling transgression of free speech and journalistic freedom. No government official has any business inquiring about the ‘moral principles’ that guide a private entity’s decision about what news to carry.
Carr’s GOP colleague on the FCC, Commissioner Nathan Simington, similarly accused House Democrats of seeking to “intimidate into silence those who would distribute on their platforms disfavored points of view.”
The way Democrats justify this to themselves is important to consider. They do not, of course, explicitly acknowledge that they are engaged in authoritarian assaults on free speech and a free press. Not even the most despotic tyrants like to think of themselves in that way. All tyrants concoct theories and excuses to justify their censorship as noble and necessary.
Indeed, the justifying script Democrats are using here is the one most commonly employed by autocrats around the world to silence their critics. Those they seek to silence are not merely expressing a different view, but are dangerous. They are not merely advocating alternative ideologies but are destabilizing society with lies, fake news, and speech that deliberately incites violence, subversion and domestic terrorism.
In her boastful posting, Rep. Eshoo says her efforts targeting these cable outlets are necessary because “misinformation on TV has led to our current polluted information environment that radicalizes individuals to commit seditious acts and rejects public health best practices, among other issues in our public discourse.” This is the rationale invoked by virtually every repressive state to imprison journalists and ban media outlets.
The Democrats sound a great deal like the Egyptian regime of Gen. Abdel el-Sisi. Just two weeks ago, Sisi’s regime finally released an Al Jazeera journalist who had been imprisoned for four years based on accusations that he had “spread false news” and was guilty of “incitement against state institutions and broadcasting false news with the aim of spreading chaos.” Sound familiar? It should, since that is precisely what House Democrats are saying to ennoble their multi-pronged assault on free expression.
Accusing one’s domestic opponents of being subversives and domestic terrorists is by far the most common way that despots on every continent justify their censorship and silencing campaigns of oppositional media outlets. In 2014, the French journalist Valeria Costa-Kostritsky warned in the Index on Censorship that anti-terrorism laws and accusations of promoting subversion were becoming the primary means which authoritarian states from Turkey and Jordan to Russia and the UAE use to justify the silencing of journalists:
Anti-terror legislation seems to be the perfect tool for a state seeking to crack down on opposition. “It’s so elusive. You can [see] anything as terrorist propaganda. There needn’t be any evidence of violence, any praise of violence. Plus, if you blame someone for having a connection with the [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] the public buys that argument easily, especially in a country that is suffering from terrorism, as Turkey is,” said Sevgi Akarçeşme, former editor-in-chief of Turkey’s Today’s Zaman (the English-language edition of daily Zaman), who had her newspaper taken over by the government in March 2016.
A similar means used by repressive governments to silence disfavored media outlets is to claim they are promoting “extremism.” As Costa-Kostritsky detailed:
There’s another word one can use to browse through reports published on the [Mapping Media Freedom] map: “extremism”. Anti-extremism legislation is used to intimidate journalists in post-Soviet countries, particularly in Russia. On the map, of the 35 incidents flagged with “extremism”, 11 took place in Russia, and seven in Crimea, others include Belgium, Italy, Hungary, France and Spain. Five reports connecting the media to “extremism” took place during the first half of 2016. They include website closures and journalists being put on a list of extremists. In Russia, most cases using anti-extremism legislations against journalists happen via Roskomnadzor, the national media regulator.
When China arrests journalists it typically justifies its actions by accusing them of fomenting extremism that jeopardizes national security.
And accusing journalists of spreading “fake news” — always a dangerously vague term from its inception — is equally commonplace when government authorities want to silence media outlets. The Washington Post reported that “as 2019 draws to a close, there are 30 journalists in jail worldwide on charges of ‘false news’ — or, as it’s also called these days, ‘fake news.’” In sum:
It has now become commonplace to throw around fake-news accusations in the United States. But in other countries around the world — like Egypt, Turkey, Somalia and Cameroon — such charges can have very chilling and stifling impacts on the press, according to an annual report by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
In Egypt — where General-turned-President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi has been overseeing a crackdown that human rights groups say is harsher than any before — there are 21 journalists in jail for allegedly publishing “false news,” according to the CPJ’s data. In practice, press freedom advocates say, these charges stem from a simple fact: The journalists published news that Sisi didn’t like.
In a passage that the Post would only publish about foreign countries but never about House Democrats, even though it now applies equally, they observed: “There is a serious global problem of disinformation spreading online and sowing distrust and sectarianism. The problem, say press advocates, is that the laws regulating fake news all too often are a means of stifling the media rather than fostering a more transparent environment online.”
This framework is hardly rare in the west either. When the Obama administration collaborated with the UK Government in 2013 to detain my husband David Miranda at Heathrow Airport in connection with the work he was doing in the Snowden reporting, they cited an anti-terrorism law to justify his detention, and repeatedly threatened to prosecute him for terrorism if he did not cooperate by providing all of his passwords to them. He ultimately prevailed in his lawsuit against the U.K. Government on the ground that it constitutes an illegal assault on press freedoms and human rights to abuse anti-terrorism frameworks to intimidate or silence journalists.
Justifying the silencing of journalists by accusing them of inciting domestic terrorism and extremism is now the most common means used globally for censorsing the press. The Committee to Protect Journalists in 2013 said they had “tracked a significant rise in journalist imprisonments.” The culprit, said the group, was “the expansion of anti-terrorism and national security laws worldwide” after the 9/11 attack, which had been repeatedly abused to criminalize media outlets. “The number of journalists jailed worldwide hit 232 in 2012, 132 of whom were held on anti-terror or other national security charges.” In sum: “CPJ’s analysis has found that governments have exploited these laws to silence critical journalists.”
Are there conspiracy theories and disinformation sometimes found on the conservative cable outlets which House Democrats want taken off the air? Of course there are: all media outlets disseminate conspiracy theories and fake news at times. MSNBC and CNN spent four years endorsing the most deranged conspiracy theory imaginable, one with very toxic roots in the Cold War: namely, the McCarthyite script that the Kremlin had taken over control of key U.S. institutions through sexual blackmail over the President, invasions into the nation’s heating system and electric grid, and criminal conspiracy between Moscow and the Trump campaign to hack into Democrats’ emails.
All of that was false, just as the one-month tale told over and over by the media about a pro-Trump mob murdering Brian Sicknick by bludgeoning him to death with a fire extinguisher was false — a story which remains unretracted or corrected by most who spread it.
Just imagine if, during the Trump years, the GOP Senate had abused its power to bully cable outlets into removing MSNBC from their platforms, or banning liberal journalists and activists from using social media platforms, on the grounds that they were spreading conspiracy theories and fake news. It is hard to overstate how extreme the rhetoric would have been that Trump and the Republicans were engaged in authoritarian measures to destroy free speech and a free press.
And I would have joined in those denunciations (as I did with the Assange prosecution): as much as I loathe so much of what those outlets do, it is not the role of the government to regulate let alone silence them. The corrective is for journalists to rebuild trust and faith with the public by exposing their misinformation and proving to the public that they will do accurate and reliable reporting regardless of which faction is aggrandized or angered.
But corporate media outlets and Democrats (excuse the redundancy) who spent the last four years posturing as virulent defenders of press freedoms never meant it. Like so much of what they claimed to believe, it was fraudulent. The proof is that they are now mute, if not supportive, as Democrats use their status as majority party to launch an assault against press freedoms far more egregious than anything Trump got close to doing.
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Facts Matter (May 19): Auditor Reveals Data Deleted From Election Machine Has Been Recovered
Four days ago, the governor of Tennessee signed into law a new “bathroom bill,” which protects access to bathrooms based on biological sex. In Arizona, during a special Senate meeting, one of the firms conducting the audit revealed that they were able to recover data that they thought was deleted. A newly resurfaced video from 10 years ago shows the co-founder of BLM expressing her fondness for Mao Zedong’s “little red book.” Facts Matter is an Epoch Times show available on YouTube.
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Facts Matter (May 19): Auditor Reveals Data Deleted From Election Machine Has Been Recovered
Four days ago, the governor of Tennessee signed into law a new “bathroom bill,” which protects access to bathrooms based on biological sex. In Arizona, during a special Senate meeting, one of the firms conducting the audit revealed that they were able to recover data that they thought was deleted. A newly resurfaced video from […]
GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Vernon Jones Calls for ‘An Immediate Forensic Audit of the Georgia 2020 Election’
Georgia GOP gubernatorial candidate and former State Rep. Vernon Jones called for “an immediate for an immediate forensic audit of the Georgia 2020 election” at a press conference on Wednesday.
Here is a transcript of that press conference:
Jones: The integrity of our election is nonnegotiable. It is non-negotiable. Zero room. And that is where I’m here today to call for an immediate forensic audit of the Georgia 2020 election. In recent weeks, I found myself troubled by the recent findings coming out of Arizona as they conduct forensic audits of their own led by their state legislatures.
From this audit, previously unknown findings have since come to life, including reports of missing ballots, broken seals on the boxes and containers that contain them, and wholly deleted databases of information related to this election. That is not right. Let me make one thing clear.
There’s no place in Georgia elections for those types of shenanigans. And the findings of such an audit will paint a clear road map where we must go from here in terms of further reform to safeguard our election process. Since day one, my campaign had made a commitment of integrity to this election while Brian Kemp sat on the sidelines in the 2020 election and refused to call a special session to secure our elections I was on the front line fighting for election integrity, integrity, and fighting and fighting for Donald J. Trump. Brian Kemp’s inaction cost us both the Congress and the White House.
But it is my hope that my action today will bring us closer to ensuring that this never happens again. That is why I’m calling on Brian Kemp today, this day to order a forensic audit of all 159 counties in the state of Georgia. (Applause) Over 50 percent of this state population do not trust the election process.
We have seen Stacey’s Law, supersede state law. That is unamerican and that’s an undisputed disputed violation of our Constitution. And I’m here with these Patriots today, Georgians who care about our election process. This is not a third-world country. This is the state of Georgia of the United States. Brian Kemp was afraid of Stacy Abrams.
He caved in to the left. He didn’t stand up for you, and he didn’t stand up for me. That’s why they’re going to have to be some changes. And the change is going to bring about a process where the people in this state, everybody feel that there’s confidence in our voting process where it’s free and it’s transparent.
And so with that, I’ll take some questions and comments, and then we’re going to close out.
Watch the full video here:
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The post GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Vernon Jones Calls for ‘An Immediate Forensic Audit of the Georgia 2020 Election’ appeared first on The Georgia Star News.
AZ Senate Majority Whip Sonny Borrelli Shares His Observations On the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors: “They’re Very Disrespectful”
The Gateway Pundit’s Jordan Conradson interviewed Arizona Senate Majority Whip Sonny Borrelli after the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (MCBOS) refused to attend the Senate’s meeting on Tuesday, with the Arizona Senate Audit team.
Guest post by Jordan Conradson
On Monday, the MCBOS failed to attend a meeting requested by Senate Leader Karen Fann covering her devastating letter to the Board on May 12. Instead, they held their own meeting Monday, in response to her letter.
Jordan Conradson from The Gateway Pundit discussed these recent events with Senator Borrelli.
Conradson: The Board of supervisors refused to attend their meeting yesterday. What does that tell you?
Borrelli: It’s very disappointing because Senator Fann had questions about things that they had found, and they were legitimate questions… It was very disappointing that the meeting they had Monday was all accusatory and totally defensive and it really wasn’t warranted because the letter than Karen Fann sent to the supervisor was not accusatory. It was just asking questions on some of the things that were found… for them to not show up on Monday was completely disrespectful but then how they acted on Monday was very telling on their whole position…(on deleted data) It was deleted! So we have to find out how did it get deleted? They’re denying that it got deleted and they have no concerns of that and they don’t even want to know how or why it got deleted. It’s very troubling because nothing is supposed to be deleted for 24 months. Everything is supposed to be intact.
Conradson: I thought that they didn’t actually deny data being deleted, but denied being the ones who deleted it?
Borrelli: Correct.
Conradson: So who does that leave?
Borrelli: That’s a good question and that was one of the questions they should have answered.
Conradson: So do you think it could have been Dominion that deleted the files?
Borrelli: It could be. It could be a tech mistake. It could have been all kinds of stuff but these are the things that need to be looked at. If their practices are faulty or someone is negligent, well then you need to find out… that’s pretty much the impetus of this audit, to find out if there was any discrepancies and what do we need to do to fix that for future legislation for future elections.
Conradson: So what’s the next step in enforcing the subpoenas on routers and passwords?
Sonny Borrelli: I’m not going to signal any kind of strategy but we’re just going to continue on with the audit after the graduation ceremonies that are going on at the coliseum. They’re going to resume going back to the headcount and verifying all of the ballots. So we’re just going to continue to march and do what we’re doing. We’ve been asking for cooperation from the supervisors from day one. The Supervisor Chairman and Hickman said they’re more than willing to cooperate, they want to cooperate, they want to have an audit and they want to work with us. But as soon as the gavel hit, it was the complete opposite.
Jordan Conradson: Have there been any more intimidation tactics by the DOJ?
Borrelli: No, and I thought that letter was kind of comical because we were not intimidated because all of the things they were accusing us of were all of the things that were caused by the Secretary of State’s office and the MCBOS. From day one we did not want any of the equipment or any of the ballots to leave the premises. We wanted to inspect the equipment there, intact, in the same environment where the election was held. So nothing needed to leave the premises and cause us to go to another location and hire a boat load of extra security and other logistics costs that we had to pay, and the SOS never once intervened and said timeout here there is a chain of custody issue.
Conradson: Will this audit continue next Monday?
Borrelli: Yes. Everything is in a secure location with armed security on them, we got cameras, lights on them. Nothings going to get near them and when we get the coliseum back, were going to continue to march and finish out the mission. You know I just find it really amazing, the supervisors, the SOS office, the Democrats are all saying this was a free and fair election. It was perfect. Ok great! Let us help you prove it. I’ve never seen someone fight so hard against somebody trying to help prove that they were elected.
The audit will continue next Monday
The post AZ Senate Majority Whip Sonny Borrelli Shares His Observations On the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors: “They’re Very Disrespectful” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded May 20, 2021 | Video: 47 Minutes 59 Seconds
Episode 962 – Power in Numbers (w/ Matthew Lohmeier, Boris Epshteyn, Beth Ann Hnat). Guests are: Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier, Boris Epshteyn, Beth Ann Hnat.
Bannon’s War Room | Evening Edition | Recorded May 20, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 59 Seconds
Episode 963 – The Wicked Witch of the South … How Vernon Jones Is Taking on Stacey Abrams. “She’s nothing more than the wicked witch of the south,” Jones said of Abrams. “I’m not afraid of her, or the left. I’ll call them out.” Guests are: Vernon Jones, Patrick O’Donnell, Mark Finchem.
Afghanistan: Joint call for an immediate end to attacks against human rights defenders and need for protection and accountability
Amnesty International, along with other human rights organisations, call of the Government of Afghanistan to end the threats, harassment, intimidation and attacks against human rights defenders, activists, journalists and media workers in the country. The Government of Afghanistan and international stakeholders and facilitators in the ongoing peace process, must take responsibility through their conduct and engagement in the country to stop the increase in violent attacks against human rights defenders. These organisations, in a joint letter, collectively call for an effective protection mechanism for human rights defenders in Afghanistan.
Israeli Human Rights Group B’Tselem: Israel Is Committing War Crimes by Killing Civilians in Gaza
As the Palestinian death toll in Gaza tops 200, the leading Israeli human rights group B’Tselem is accusing Israel of committing war crimes by killing blockaded civilians and destroying infrastructure on a massive scale. Executive director Hagai El-Ad says Israel has not done enough to distinguish between military and civilian targets or to act with proportionality. “We’ve seen war crimes in previous military assaults on Gaza,” he says. “And, in fact, the impunity of the previous times in which war crimes were committed is what has paved the way for the continuation of more such crimes being committed.” Earlier this year, B’Tselem released a landmark report denouncing Israel as an “apartheid regime.”
Colorado to pay unemployed residents to get them to go back to work
The state of Colorado will pay unemployed Coloradans up to $1,600 to get them to go back to work full-time, the governor’s office announced Wednesday.
Gov. Jared Polis signed an executive order to create the “Colorado Jumpstart” incentive program. Those who have been unemployed for at least a week between between March 28 and May 16 (among other stipulations) but return to work full time before May 29 could receive up to $1,600 to help with the transition. If a person returns to work full time between May 30 and June 26, they can get $1,200.
There will be two payments, one after a full month of employment and the other after two months of employment. If a person loses their job during the eight-week period, they forfeit the rest of the payment.
Colorado will spend $500,000 in the first month, and will move the funding from the Coronavirus Relief Fund within the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Additional money will be allocated from the fund through FEMA reimbursements of public health expenses, according to CDLE.
The total cost of the program is estimated to be between $36 million and $57 million, potentially providing payments to 40,000 or more people. The funding will be available until Sept. 4.
Colorado’s unemployment rate in March was 6.4%, or more than 200,000 people, according to federal data. (April numbers aren’t out yet.) But job boards show more than 282,000 active openings, suggesting that there are thousands who have chosen not to enter or return to the workforce. The state hopes this incentive program will bring people back into workplaces for the long term. . .
Biologically Male Sexual Predators Housed In Washington Female Prisons, Court Documents Show
A legal battle between a private citizen and the ACLU of Washington Foundation has revealed that biologically male sexual predators are being housed in the state’s female prisons, it was announced by an advocacy group Wednesday.
In March, the ACLU of Washington filed a lawsuit to prevent the public release of records pertaining to transgender inmates in the Washington prison system. Now, a judge has ruled in favor of the ACLU against private citizen Andrea Kelly, but key information was uncovered during the proceedings about biological male prisoners in female prisons.
“Judge Rice’s decision in this case to prevent the release of records which prove sexual misconduct by men currently housed in women’s prisons sets a dangerous precedent. The state of Washington has failed to uphold its legal obligations under the Public Records Act and, in doing so, denied citizens our ability to hold the government accountable for their violation of the human rights of female inmates,” said Women’s Liberation Front legal director Lauren Adams, who is representing Kelly in the case. . .
May 19, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 51 Minutes 49 Seconds
10-year-old Confronts School Board Over Masks; Netanyahu: Either Deter Hamas or Conquer Them. Over a dozen Republican senators called on President Joe Biden to clearly stand behind Israel, the House of Representatives decides whether to establish a commission to further investigate the events of Jan. 6, and Biden is lifting sanctions on the company behind Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded May 19, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 32 Seconds
Episode 958 – The Fresno State of Fighting Voter Fraud … Mike Lindell’s Crusade. Guest is: Mike Lindell.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded May 19, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 15 Seconds
Episode 959 – An America to Save … School Boards, Bus Tours, and Audits to Save the the Nation. Guests are: Michael Patrick Leahy, Tal Bachman, Ben Bergquam.
Bannon’s War Room | Evening Edition | Recorded May 19, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 59 Seconds
Episode 960 – Barking Up the Wrong Fed Tree … Inflation and Mom Says Enough to Mask Tyranny. Peter Navarro says Larry Summers is the “dumbest smart guy I ever met,” and explains whey he’s “barking up the wrong Fed tree.” Guests are: Eric Greitens, Peter Navarro Jessi Melton.
The Media’s Matt Gaetz Source – Joel Greenberg – Just Pleaded Guilty to Making FALSE Pedophilia Allegations about His Opponents.
Did you know the guy behind the Matt Gaetz allegations just pleaded guilty to making false allegations about sex with a minor about another of his political opponents? The media doesn’t seem to want to report this part of the case, which is available for anyone who wants to read it in Joel Greenberg’s plea deal released on Monday.
Greenberg, a Florida tax collector in Seminole County, pleaded guilty this week to a series of crimes. The corporate media is reporting on his plea deal with prosecutors and the implications for firebrand Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz. But there’s something else you need to know, and the media don’t seem keen to tell people.
Greenberg is the only person making accusations about Rep. Gaetz right now – two months in – and there’s plenty of evidence to suggest his animosity is driven by Gaetz’s refusal to get involved in Greenberg’s demands for a pardon from President Trump.
But take a look at Count Twenty-Four in Greenberg’s deal. It’s stunning, and it goes right to the heart of the allegations being made – mostly on the far-left Daily Beast website – about Rep. Gaetz.
Count Twenty-Four, which Greenberg has pleaded guilty to, establishes that Greenberg is a malicious and habitual liar who uses web publications to make false, criminal allegations about his political adversaries. . .
The post The Media’s Matt Gaetz Source – Joel Greenberg – Just Pleaded Guilty to Making FALSE Pedophilia Allegations about His Opponents. appeared first on The National Pulse.
Supreme Court Unanimously Rules Against Warrantless Gun Seizures
by Eric Lendrum
On Monday, in a rare unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against the Biden Administration in a case regarding the legality of warrantless searches and seizures of firearms, The Epoch Times reports.
The case, Caniglia v. Strom, began oral arguments roughly two months ago. The case stems from an incident in Cranston, Rhode Island, back in August of 2015, where a man named Edward Caniglia had an argument with his wife of 22 years. Eventually, Caniglia withdrew an unloaded gun and suggested that his wife shoot him and “get me out of my misery.” His wife then called the police asking them to carry out a welfare check, where Caniglia was taken to the hospital.
Despite the police’s assurance that his guns would not be confiscated, they ultimately did seize his firearms without a warrant after he had been hospitalized, and refused to return them to him after he was discharged. Caniglia subsequently sued, claiming that the exception for community caretaking, which is what the police claimed to have used in this case, should not apply inside his home.
The Biden Administration’s Department of Justice, represented by DOJ lawyer Morgan Ratner, argued in favor of the city’s actions, claiming that “the label you give it is not nearly as important as principle. And the key principle is if someone is at risk of serious harm and it’s reasonable for officials to intervene now, that is enough.”
The Court ultimately ruled in Caniglia’s favor, determining that the seizure of his weapons without a warrant violated his Fourth Amendment rights. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the relatively short opinion, at just four pages long.
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Eric Lendrum reports for American Greatness.
The post Supreme Court Unanimously Rules Against Warrantless Gun Seizures appeared first on The Georgia Star News.
Disturbing footage of Texas abduction shows alleged kidnapper taking 4-year-old
Newly released home surveillance footage captured the shocking moments that a teen allegedly abducted a 4-year-old from his Texas bedroom — before the child was found dead in the street.
The video, obtained and published by The Daily Mail, allegedly shows suspect Darriynn Brown, 18, breaking into Cash Gernon’s bedroom around 5 a.m. Saturday morning and taking the boy, who had been sleeping next to his twin brother.
He appears to momentarily hesitate before picking up Cash, and leaving the room.
Less than two hours later, Cash was stabbed to death with what police called an “edged weapon,” and his body was found dumped on a Dallas street by a jogger, officials said.
Security footage allegedly also captured the teen returning to the bedroom around 7 a.m. — after police said Cash had been killed — and hovering over his brother, Carter, but leaving without waking the boy, the Daily Mail reported.
More than 600,000 American kids ages 12 to 15 got Covid vaccines last week
- CDC Director Dr Rochelle Walensky revealed that more than 600,000 children between 12 and 15 got vaccinated last week during a White House press briefing
- U.S. regulators last week authorized Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for use in children as young as 12
- About 17 million people aged 12 to 15 are now eligible to get shots, but only three in 10 parents said they wanted to vaccinate their kids ASAP
- Children very rarely get severely ill or die of COVID-19, but experts argue vaccinating them will help keep schools open in person and protect adults
REPORT: Bill Gates Hoped Epstein Could Help Him Win Nobel Peace Prize
Bill Gates wanted to use Jeffrey Epstein’s connections to get himself a Nobel Prize, the billionaire’s ex-staffer said, The Daily Beast reported Tuesday.
Members of Gates Foundation were assured that Gates‘ relationship with Epstein “was a maneuver” aimed at a Nobel Peace Prize, the former employee, who asked to remain anonymous, said, according to The Daily Beast. . .
Gates and Epstein held several meetings starting in 2011, three years after Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting a young girl, The New York Times reported. Gates reportedly said that Epstein’s “lifestyle is very different and kind of intriguing although it would not work for me,” in an email sent to colleagues at the time.
A 2013 meeting between Gates and the convicted sex criminal caused major issues in the relationship of the tech mogul with Melinda Gates which may have ultimately led to the couple’s early May divorce announcement, the Daily Beast reported. . .
Tlaib Confronts Biden on Israel, Saying Support Enables Crimes Against Palestinians
Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, confronted President Biden on Tuesday over his support for Israel amid its bombing campaign against Hamas in Gaza, urging him to stop enabling a government she said was committing crimes against Palestinians, according to a Democratic aide familiar with the exchange.
During a conversation on a tarmac in Detroit, where Mr. Biden had arrived to visit a Ford factory near her congressional district, Ms. Tlaib echoed a scathing speech she delivered last week on the House floor, telling the president that he must do more to protect Palestinian lives and human rights, said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe her remarks.
Her comments came as Israel has scaled up its bombing campaign in the past week. Among Democrats in Congress, attitudes toward Israel have grown more skeptical as the party base expresses concern about Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, and several high-profile progressive lawmakers including Ms. Tlaib have become increasingly vocal about criticizing Mr. Biden for his stance.
There was no immediate comment on the exchange from the White House.
May 18, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 53 Minutes 52 Seconds
President Joe Biden is coming up with another multi-billion dollar plan after visiting a Ford factory in Michigan, international pressure to boycott the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics is picking up over China’s human rights abuses, and the Trump administration’s top diplomat weighs in on the Israel–Palestine conflict.
Biden Snatched War From the Jaws of Israel Peace Deals. Pence Explains How He Did It
Officials Identify Slain Dallas 4-Year-Old as Cash Gernon, Suspect Being Held on $1.5 Million Bond
Officials identified a 4-year-old boy who was found dead on a street in Dallas as Cash Gernon, and police said he was being taken care of by the girlfriend of Cash’s father, according to a news release.
“There has been a misidentification of Ms. Monica Sherrod as to being Cash’s biological/Stepmother. Cash was left in the care of Ms. Sherrod by his father unbeknownst to his biological mother, Ms. Melinda Seagroves. According to Ms. Sherrod, she has not been able to contact the father since his departure from her residence in March 2021,” according to the news release.
The release added: “Meanwhile, Ms. Seagroves, with the help of her mother Ms. Connie Ward, has been conducting an extensive search for her sons for an extended amount of time.”
Cash’s brother has been reunited with Seagroves, they said, adding that “fraudulent GoFundMe accounts” have been set up.
Several hours before a 4-year-old boy was found deceased on a street in Dallas, a man was seen taking the boy from his bed and carrying him away, according to home surveillance footage cited by court documents.
The girlfriend said the person who took the child from his bed on Saturday was 18-year-old Darriynn Brown, officials said, reported Fox News and other media outlets.
Canada Will Need 75% Vaccination Before U.S. Border Reopens, Trudeau Suggests
WASHINGTON—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is suggesting that three-quarters of Canadians will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before the Canada-U.S. border can be reopened.
Trudeau acknowledges that discussions about the border are ongoing, but he’s tamping down any expectations that travel restrictions could be lifted soon.
Discretionary travel between Canada and the United States has been prohibited since March 2020, a restriction that will be extended into June before the end of the week.
Trudeau says Canada is still not out of the current third wave of COVID-19 and has much more work to do before it’s safe for travel to resume.
That’s in contrast with the U.S., where a blistering vaccination pace has prompted public health officials to lift face mask requirements for people who are fully vaccinated.
That has some U.S. lawmakers urging the Biden administration to get serious about drafting a plan to allow travel to and from Canada to resume in time for the July 4 holiday.
Amazon’s Ring Is Largest Civilian Surveillance Network U.S. Has Ever Seen + More
Amazon’s Ring Is the Largest Civilian Surveillance Network the US Has Ever Seen
In a 2020 letter to management, Max Eliaser, an Amazon software engineer, said Ring is “simply not compatible with a free society.” We should take his claim seriously.
Ring video doorbells, Amazon’s signature home security product, pose a serious threat to a free and democratic society. Not only is Ring’s surveillance network spreading rapidly, it is extending the reach of law enforcement into private property and expanding the surveillance of everyday life. What’s more, once Ring users agree to release video content to law enforcement, there is no way to revoke access and few limitations on how that content can be used, stored, and with whom it can be shared. . . .
Biden Wants to Surveil Soldier Social Media Pages, Use Private Firms to ‘Circumvent’ First Amendment
The Democrats who control Joe Biden have been chirping about a “domestic war on terror” since January 6 and even before that while ignoring all the domestic violence their side was committing all throughout 2020. Leftists claim their concern is “extremism,” then declare any opinion they disagree with to be “extreme.” Unfortunately for them (yet good for Americans), the Bill of Rights makes it difficult for them to surveil anyone they determine to be a “domestic threat.” So they use private companies to get around pesky First Amendment issues. This now, according to reports, includes our military. That’s right. The Biden administration is concerned that our armed service members maybe a little too “extreme” and wants to monitor what they say on social media.
Per the Intercept, the Pentagon is working on a program to do just that.
An extremism steering committee led by Bishop Garrison, a senior adviser to the secretary of defense, is currently designing the social media screening pilot program, which will “continuously” monitor military personnel for “concerning behaviors,” according to a Pentagon briefing in late March. Although in the past the military has balked at surveilling service members for extremist political views due to First Amendment protections, the pilot program will rely on a private surveillance firm in order to circumvent First Amendment restrictions on government monitoring, according to a senior Pentagon official.
A spokesman for the House Armed Services Committee claims to believe this will only be used for background checks and vetting security clearance. Though they did add the following:
Secretary [of Defense Lloyd] Austin has been clear about his intentions to understand to what extent extremism exists in the force and its effect on good order and discipline.
Your level of concern is probably indexed to your level of cynicism toward the government’s “honesty” and “trustworthiness.” Mine is high on both counts. But there is a bigger problem, assuming the report is accurate. The people whose job it is to send soldiers into combat don’t trust the soldiers they send into combat. Or, at the very least, need to make sure they don’t hold opposing viewpoints.
The left will claim their only concern is “extreme” opinions, implying they’re looking for traitors and anarchists. We’ll see how quickly that becomes soldiers who question climate policy, disagree with POTUS on the Second Amendment, or think that boys are boys and girls are girls.
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AP’s Sally Buzbee Mired in Scandal as She Preps for Role as Washington Post Executive Editor
Days after the Washington Post tapped Sally Buzbee to replace Marty Baron as executive editor, the Associated Press boss finds herself mired in controversy as the organization she has helmed since 2017 is under fire for knowingly associating with terrorists.
The Post announced Buzbee’s hiring on May 11 to the delight of journalists and other liberal proponents of representational diversity. Buzbee will be the first woman to serve as top editor of the Jeff Bezos-owned publication. The initial fervor over the announcement, however, was quickly overshadowed by criticism of the AP’s ties to Hamas, the Iranian-backed terrorist organization behind the recent spate of violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
The controversy began on May 15 after Israeli airstrikes destroyed the Jala Tower in Gaza City. The 12-story complex was home to a number of Hamas operations, including weapons manufacturing and military intelligence, as well as the Associated Press and other media organizations. According to national security expert Noah Pollak, the AP’s local reporters knew of the terrorist group’s presence in the office building.
Buzbee denied the AP, which has maintained offices in the Jala Tower for 15 years, was ever aware of the Hamas operations in the building, and demanded an independent investigation into the matter. “We are in a conflict situation,” Buzbee said in an interview with the AP. “We do not take sides in that conflict. We heard Israelis say they have evidence; we don’t know what that evidence is.”
Buzbee’s remarks echoed those of AP president and CEO Gary Pruitt, who said the organization was “shocked and horrified” by the Israeli airstrike and had “no indication Hamas was in the building.” Pruitt said the proximity of active terrorist operations was “something we actively check to the best of our ability” and insisted the AP “would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.”
The AP’s denials notwithstanding, evidence suggests the organization’s due diligence was less than thorough. Matti Friedman, a former AP correspondent based in Jerusalem, has written extensively about his experiences covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the ground. In a 2014 article published in the Atlantic, for example, Friedman explained how news coverage of the region was often shaped by an “informal alliance” between media organizations and Palestinian terrorist groups.
“The AP staff in Gaza City would witness a rocket launch right beside their office, endangering reporters and other civilians nearby—and the AP wouldn’t report it, not even in AP articles about Israeli claims that Hamas was launching rockets from residential areas,” Friedman wrote. “Hamas fighters would burst into the AP’s Gaza bureau and threaten the staff—and the AP wouldn’t report it.” . . .
Amnesty International wins Webby Award for multimedia tear gas project
Amnesty International’s online multimedia project, Tear Gas: An Investigation, has won a prestigious Webby Award today for the best activism website worldwide.
Hailed as the “internet’s highest honour” by The New York Times, the 25th annual Webby Awards, presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), is the leading international award honouring excellence on the internet.
“We are delighted to achieve this distinction, which reflects the hard work our team and our partners put into ensuring that Tear Gas: An Investigation was as informative, relevant, user-friendly and visually striking as possible,” said Sam Dubberley, Head of the Crisis Evidence Lab at Amnesty International.
“It is a great honour for the site to be held in such high regard by The Webby Awards judges and the public, and we hope this attention will raise awareness of the serious topic it covers. When misused by police forces, tear gas and other less-lethal weapons can actually maim and kill, in violation of international human rights law and norms. The transfer and use of tear gas must be better regulated globally.”
Arizona Senate Hearing on Maricopa County Audit and 2020 Election Issues – 4:00pm ET Livestream Links
Today at 1pm local / 4:00pm Eastern, the Arizona Senate is holding a public hearing to accept testimony from the groups and individuals currently undertaking the Maricopa County ballot audit of the 2020 election. The auditors are expected to deliver testimony and answer questions raised about what the audit has discovered so far. The event […]
The post Arizona Senate Hearing on Maricopa County Audit and 2020 Election Issues – 4:00pm ET Livestream Links appeared first on The Last Refuge.
Michigan Judge Dismisses Antrim County Election Case
A Michigan judge on Tuesday threw out a case challenging the 2020 election in Antrim County. 13th Circuit Court Judge Kevin Elsenheimer, a Republican nominee, ruled that plaintiff William Bailey, a resident of Antrim County, had received the relief he sought after he filed the lawsuit last year following the election. Bailey was seeking an independent audit of Antrim County’s election but Elsenheimer decided that the February risk-limiting audit conducted by county clerks, who reviewed a random sample of some 18,000 ballots, was sufficient under state law. “There is no right either in the constitutional section or the statue for the independent audit that Mr. Bailey seeks,” Elsenheimer told the court. “As the plaintiffs have either received all of the requested relief or are not entitled to the relief requested as a matter of law … the plaintiff’s claims are, in fact, moot,” he added. . .
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 1 | Recorded May 18, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 37 Seconds
Episode 954 – We Are Citizens, Not Subjects … What They’re Hiding in Maricopa. Guests are: Amanda Head and Ben Bergquam, Rep. Mark Finchem, Dr. Joseph Mercola.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 2 | Recorded May 18, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 30 Seconds
Episode 955 – The Indispensables … Untold Stories from the American Revolution. Guests are: Mary Ann Mendoza, Patrick K. O’Donnell, Michael Patrick Leahy.
Bannon’s War Room | Morning Edition Hour 3 | Recorded May 18, 2021 | Video: 47 Minutes 58 Seconds
Episode 956 – The Liberty Trail…From Philadelphia to Georgia. “As we move across America, more and more people are asking questions about the election,” she said. “If there’s just a tiny tiny crack in the story, that’s when people start wiggling with that crack and then they find out a whole mess of things that destroys the Democrat narrative in Arizona, in Georgia, in Pennsylvania, in Wisconsin, all across those swing states.” Guests are: Amanda Head, Ben Bergquam, Laura Baigert, Vernon Jones, Darren Beattie, Patrick O’Donnell.
Bannon’s War Room | Evening Edition | Recorded May 18, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 58 Seconds
Episode 957 – How MAGA Patriots Are Like Marbleheaders in the American Revolution. “She’s scared down to the marrow of her being,” he said. “A couple weeks ago she ends with ‘this is dangerous.’ Now the Maricopa County board says ‘this is dangerous.’” Our guests are: Amanda Head, Ben Bergquam, Boris Epshteyn, Patrick O’Donnell.
May 17, 2021 | Nightly News Rebroadcast | Video: 53 Minutes 52 Seconds
Hamas has now fired over 3,000 rockets into Israel, and Israel has killed one more terrorist leader.
The amount of fentanyl seized at the southern border jumped eightfold last month compared to April last year.
A Space Force officer was fired after his public comments criticizing the military’s embrace of critical race theory.
White House Defends ‘Quiet’ Diplomacy in Israel-Gaza Crisis
The Biden administration says it wants to de-escalate the violence between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, but the White House is resisting calls to demand a cease-fire in a conflict that has cost at least 200 lives.
Pressed on why President Joe Biden and other top officials aren’t publicly calling for a cease-fire, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that “every statement we make is with the objective of reducing the violence and bringing an end to the conflict on the ground.”
“There are times in diplomacy where we’ll need to keep those conversations quieter, where we won’t read out every component of it,” Psaki told reporters. “But that is our objective and that is the prism through which every action and every comment is being made.”
Psaki said she wasn’t sure if Biden had seen the latest statement by a group of Senate Democrats calling for a cease-fire. She emphasized dozens of calls made by the president and top officials seeking to resolve the crisis, calling it “quiet, intensive” diplomacy, and said Biden was aware of the views held by members of Congress.
The statement signed by 29 Senate Democrats on Sunday said it’s time for the violence to stop.
Exclusive – Former Israeli Ambassador to U.N.: ‘I Would Expect from AP to Check Who Your Neighbors Are,’ IDF Warned Them Before Strike
Former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Dannon told Breitbart News on Monday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) notified people within a building in Gaza holding Associated Press (AP) offices prior to striking it with warplanes.
Danon discussed the IDF’s destruction of the Jala Tower in Gaza, which also housed the AP, Al Jazeera, and other news media outlets’ offices on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow, author of Breaking the News: Exposing the Establishment Media’s Hidden Deals and Secret Corruption.
“This building was an office building in the center of Gaza, and in that building there were a few headquarters of Hamas intelligence units, and you had some media offices — AP and Al-Jazeera — and we decided to target this building because of information we gathered,” he said. “We notified everybody to evacuate the building. We allowed them to take out all their instruments, their computers, and then we attacked the building, making sure there would be no casualties, so no one can blame Israel for that.”
Parler Names George Farmer as CEO as It Returns to Apple’s App Store
Parler LLC on Monday named prominent U.K. conservative George Farmer as its new chief executive and said that its social network has returned to Apple Inc.’s App Store, the company’s latest steps to rebuild its business months after the U.S. Capitol riot.
Mr. Farmer is succeeding interim chief Mark Meckler, who is leaving the company. Mr. Farmer joined Parler in March as operating chief and previously worked in financial services for a decade, the company said.
He is married to Candace Owens, a conservative author and commentator known for being a loyal supporter of former President Donald Trump. In 2019, Mr. Farmer was an active financial supporter and candidate for the U.K.’s Brexit Party, according to Parler.
The company didn’t disclose the reason behind the executive change.
Arrest Made After Boy, 4, Found Slain on Dallas Street
DALLAS—An 18-year-old man has been arrested after the body of a 4-year-old boy was found lying on a neighborhood street in Dallas, police said Sunday.
Police said that Darriynn Brown has been charged with kidnapping and theft. Police say they also anticipate additional charges pending the results of a forensic analysis.
Brown was being held Sunday in Dallas County jail on a $750,000 bond. Jail records did not list an attorney for him.
Police received a call that there was a child dead in the street at about 6:50 a.m. Saturday.
Assistant Police Chief Albert Martinez has said it appeared the child suffered a violent death and that “an edged weapon” was used. He said it’s believed the child was killed at about 5 a.m.
The child’s name hasn’t been released, but he’s believed to have lived in the southwest Dallas neighborhood where he was found, Martinez said.
Antwainese Square, 39, told The Dallas Morning News she alerted authorities after seeing the boy’s body while she was jogging. She said the boy’s face and upper half of his body were covered in blood and that he didn’t have shoes or a shirt.
“It breaks my heart,” Square told the newspaper. “And now I’m afraid. Now I’m paranoid. Because I don’t know what happened, I don’t know what’s going on.”
EXCLUSIVE: Republican ‘Team Effort’ Killed Bill To Stop Child Transgender Surgeries, ‘Texas GOP Needs A Housecleaning’
Former Texas Rep. Matt Rinaldi told National File that a group of Texas Republican legislators – reportedly acting on orders from Gov. Greg Abbott – worked together to kill a bill that would have effectively banned child transgender surgeries and chemical castrations in the state.
Family activists in Texas are reeling after H.B. 1399, which would have stripped doctors of their ability to acquire liability insurance if they engaged in child transgender surgeries or chemical castrations at their practices, was almost certainly doomed by Texas Reps. Dustin Burrows and Jared Patterson, both on the Calendars Committee responsible for assigning the legislation a date for a full House vote. Burrows and Patterson scheduled the bill for last Wednesday after extreme pressure from activists, but placed hundreds of other legislative items on the agenda ahead of the vote, all but ensuring the bill would not receive a vote before the end of the legislative session and effectively killing it.