[JustTheNews] Federal judge grants further legal discovery into censorship pressure after SCOTUS setback this summer while censored journalist discloses "as close to a smoking gun as we could hope to find now."
The whole-of-government approach to limit the spread of purported misinformation, disinformation and "malinformation," from the White House to federal agencies and their private partners in Big Tech, think tanks and speech-policing organizations, is turning inside out.
Judicial scrutiny is supplementing the efforts of President-elect Trump's choice for Federal Communications Commission chairman to dismantle the "censorship cartel" and Department of Government Efficiency co-leader Elon Musk to slash and burn the administrative state, with the State Department's Global Engagement Center already a reported target.
A federal judge approved further legal discovery in a lawsuit by Louisiana, Missouri and censored doctors against federal officials and agencies including GEC for pressuring Big Tech to censor, months after the Supreme Court ruled they didn't have standing for a preliminary injunction.
Alluding to Vice President Kamala Harris's much-mocked verbal crutch, President Trump nominee Judge Terry Doughty ruled he was "burdened by what has been," the SCOTUS ruling.
But he said the plaintiffs showed evidence that is not "impermissibly speculative": a congressional investigation of Facebook parent Meta that found internal admissions it censored the COVID-19 lab-leak theory because it was "under pressure from the [Biden] administration” to do so, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's similar admission to Congress this summer.
The feds are "uniquely in control of the facts, information, documents, and evidence regarding the extent and nature" of the censorship pressure, and the already disclosed emails show "the pains that certain persons and entities went through to hide their tracks," Doughty ruled while limiting further discovery to resolve factual questions for jurisdiction.
"We end with the unignorable reality that regime change is imminent" – Trump's second presidential term – and the "wild" possibility that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of the "Disinformation Dozen" targeted by the White House, "may soon replace or control" the defendant Department of Health and Human Services as Trump's nominee for secretary.
But that by itself is too speculative to dismiss the case, the ruling concludes.
One of the censored doctors, Stanford medical professor Jay Bhattacharya, is reportedly a top candidate to lead the National Institutes of Health, whom then-NIH Director Francis Collins targeted as a "fringe" epidemiologist for opposing COVID-19 lockdowns.
Freedom of Information Act documents obtained by investigative journalist Jimmy Tobias and posted Monday show Collins' Principal Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak, who recently testified at the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic's final hearing, was involved in potential censorship within NIH in January 2021.
Tabak agreed to discuss "potential concerns/policy conformity" with a manuscript on gain-of-function research in light of the COVID-19 pandemic co-authored by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences bioethicist David Resnik, who allegedly asked for then-Science Policy Director and Chief of Staff Carrie Wolinetz to review it.
Wolinetz warned Tabak the manuscript "suggest[s] parity between unsubstantiated manmade and/or laboratory origin theories and peer reviewed studies which provide scientific evidence that the virus is of natural origin" and connect the lab-leak theory to NIH-funded research in 2015, which she called "specious" given that "there is no evidence for lab release."
She also has "more global concerns with the notion that an NIH employee would be providing what amounts to critiques of HHS policy that is implemented by NIH, or suggestions that contradict messaging by NIH leadership, in this type of article," Wolinetz told Tabak.
The manuscript was not published for another three and a half years. It appeared this July in the Springer Nature journal Monash Bioethics Review, 14 months after Wolinetz left her final NIH post as senior adviser to then-acting Director Tabak, investigative reporter Alison Young noted.
Journalist Alex Berenson's opposition to the government's motion to dismiss his censorship-by-proxy lawsuit, which has gone further than the state-led lawsuit, disclosed what he calls "as close to a smoking gun as we could hope to find now."
Musk's X, formerly Twitter, gave him an Aug. 21, 2021, email from then-Twitter lobbyist Todd O'Boyle that told O'Boyle's boss he had just contacted "WH, Andy and Scott Gottlieb" – the White House, President Biden's COVID adviser Andy Slavitt and the Pfizer board member who was formerly President Trump's Food and Drug Administration chairman – "to keep the target off our back."
"It shows both that O’Boyle feared the pressure he and Twitter faced and that he viewed the conspirators as a group acting together," Berenson wrote Sunday. "Four days later - at the instigation of Dr. Gottlieb – he pushed through my permanent ban from Twitter, depriving me of a worldwide audience."
Slavitt, a defendant, comes up again in Berenson's argument that he can sue for conspiracy to violate his First Amendment rights as a member of a protected class, given that Slavitt said on a July 2021 podcast that social media companies need to "cut down on the amount of false information that people who haven’t been vaccinated see."
Berenson is also arguing he can sue for monetary damages because "I have no other way" to hold them accountable, such as through administrative claims, for violating his rights.
Echoing President Trump's first-term Federal Communications Commission Chair Ajit Pai, commissioner and next Chair Brendan Carr said Apple, Microsoft, Meta and Google parent Alphabet may lose their liability shield under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act for failure to show "good faith" in their outsourced content-moderation decisions.
Carr accused the Big Tech firms in letters made public Friday of playing "significant roles" in the "unprecedented surge in censorship" in recent years, working with the Biden administration and self-appointed "media monitors" to "defund, demonetize, and otherwise put out of business" media organizations that flouted preferred narratives.
He demanded they turn over information about their work through web browsers, app stores and social media with "the Orwellian named NewsGuard," which uses its partnerships with advertising agencies to allegedly censor media targets but may not qualify for the good-faith prong of Section 230 based on ideological and arbitrary enforcement of its ratings.
NewsGuard, which targeted Just the News among other insufficiently obedient outlets, is under House Oversight Committee investigation and was reviewed in a House Small Business Committee report on the "censorship-industrial complex" this year.
[JustTheNews] President-elect Donald Trump and his political allies have long maintained that his first term was undermined by federal bureaucrats acting independently of the president’s authority to pursue their own ends.
An emergency response official’s decision to withhold vital assistance to hurricane victims that showed visible support for Republicans is a scandal that belies a larger issue, namely, an unaccountable federal bureaucracy left to police itself and which President-elect Donald Trump has eyed for reform and cuts.
The concerns were raised by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer in a hearing on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to the dual crises of Hurricanes Helene and Milton that struck Florida and the wider Southeast earlier this year.
“While today’s hearing will focus on FEMA, the issue at hand is part of a larger problem: the urgent need to hold the unelected, unaccountable federal workforce accountable to the American people and to the duly elected President of the United States,” Comer said in his opening statement.
“The current system does not have strong enough mechanisms to ensure accountability. The disciplinary system is run by and for civil servants to protect civil servants,” he continued.
The hearing followed reports that during the hurricane response in Florida, one FEMA official instructed subordinates to bypass houses that displayed pro-Trump signs in Lake Placid, Florida, while they were canvassing to deliver assistance to the hurricane-stricken community.
At least 20 houses were reportedly skipped under the guidance, and therefore were not given the opportunity to qualify for FEMA assistance, Just the News reported.
"I WAS SIMPLY FOLLOWING ORDERS"
The FEMA official responsible, Marn’i Washington was terminated shortly after the public reports emerged of her conduct, but Comer says the accountability came too late, only after the conduct was exposed by reporting from the Daily Wire. For her part, Washington told NewsNation's Dan Abrams that "Firstly, I’m being framed,” said Washington. “There’s no violation of the Hatch Act. I was simply following orders."
Comer added at the hearing that "FEMA leadership didn’t take action against this supervisor until the press exposed this discrimination.” Moreover, Comer said “More importantly, FEMA officials did not immediately end the discrimination.”
Comer also warned that resistance efforts by an unaccountable bureaucracy could hamper efforts by the “duly elected president” to implement his agenda. He specifically warned that President Trump suffered resistance and “insubordination” from bureaucrats throughout his first term.
Media reports suggest that many federal bureaucrats are gearing up to conduct a similar resistance when Trump again assumes office in January.
FEDERAL WORKFORCE HIGHEST SINCE WW2
Comer said this poses a larger threat this time because the Biden-Harris administration has allowed, or encouraged, the federal bureaucracy to grow “in size, but also in power.”
“And this power is evident. Just ask the people in Highlands County, Florida. They needed help, but at least one FEMA official used her power to make help harder to get,” Comer said. “We only know this because one whistleblower was brave enough to come forward. But others knew about this and said nothing.”
The Biden administration has overseen federal spending that would bring the federal workforce to the highest level since World War Two, the Government Executive reported.
Nearly every federal agency announced plans for financial year 2024 to increase hiring, led by the Treasury Department which planned a hiring surge for the IRS to increase its workforce by 21% over 2022 numbers. The only agency expecting to cut its workforce was the National Aerospace and Aeronautics Agency, or NASA.
President-elect Donald Trump and his political allies have long maintained that his first term was undermined by federal bureaucrats acting independently of the president’s authority to pursue their own political ends.
A research report compiled by the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute found that bureaucrats across the executive branch worked against Trump’s policy proposals during that first term. For example, political appointees in the Department of Education said that career officials would “conceal” documents those appointees wished to review to hamper policy changes.
This reality was apparent to American media outlets as well. Just weeks after Trump was first inaugurated, The Washington Post reported in an article titled “Resistance from within: Federal workers push back against Trump” that federal bureaucrats were working to undermine the president’s agenda, even consulting with former Obama-era political appointees on how to do so.
This dynamic dominated Trump’s first term and cemented his view that the federal bureaucracy needs to be purged and reformed. “They’ve got to be held accountable [for] what they’re doing. They’re destroying this country. They’re crooked people, they’re dishonest people,” Trump said in a YouTube interview earlier this year.
“They’re going to be held accountable,” he promised.
[ComservativeTreehouse] It should not come as a surprise to see the same methods deployed against President Trump in 2024 that were used by the FBI in 2016. The difference is now that President Trump understands the full power of his office in the security clearance process and that he doesn’t need the FBI.
In 2016 the FBI used their power to conduct security clearances as a tool to stall and block President Trump appointments. Historically this is one of the ways a very corrupt and political FBI interfere in any system that might be against the interests of the Intelligence Community that controls them. However, in 2024 President-Elect Trump and his transition team have already taken a different approach.
First the report:
WASHINGTON DC – An official at FBI headquarters in Washington is warning that the bureau’s security clearance division is politicized and can’t be trusted to screen President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees for top administration jobs.
The allegations of political bias at the FBI’s security division, or SecD, were revealed in a protected whistleblower disclosure sent to the House Judiciary Committee, which The Washington Times reviewed.
The official said the security clearance process has been “contaminated by the political agendas of [security division] officials and other executives in the FBI.” (more)
This is not any earth-shattering revelation. We painstakingly discussed this in a multitude of prior research discussions. The motive of the Whistleblower to come forth now, is likely because President Trump is already working around the problem.
WASHINGTON DC – President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is skipping the protocol of using the FBI to conduct background checks, according to a report.
Instead, the president-elect’s team is turning to private companies to vet administrative appointees, people familiar with transition planning told CNN. Trump has criticized the FBI for its slow investigation process and feared it would delay his ability to roll out his agenda.
A security clearance is needed for some Cabinet positions, such as attorney general, and the process of obtaining one includes an FBI background check.
Dan Meyer, a national security attorney, told CNN Trump’s mistrust of the FBI and the deep state has made him go completely rogue. [They] “don’t want the FBI to coordinate a norm. They want to hammer the norm,” Meyer told CNN.
The Trump transition team’s decision to bypass the FBI background check comes as Trump has nominated former Reps. Matt Gaetz and Tulsi Gabbard for attorney general and National Intelligence director, respectively — both controversial picks. (more)
Because President Trump is making civics great again, it’s worth reminding everyone that President Trump has unilateral decision-making authority to grant anyone a security clearance. The President (atop the executive) can give anyone he chooses a top-secret security clearance status, simply by saying this person has top-secret security clearance. Yes, it really is that easy.
The President can choose his advisors and choose to share anything – even the most top-secret information in the country – with his advisors and cabinet members. That’s what we elect him/her to do; to use his/her judgement to make decisions.
This is one of the powers within the office that cannot be challenged by any other silo, branch or institution. The security clearance rules are what President Trump says the security clearance rules are.
There is no outside silo in the Executive Branch, who can supersede the decision of President Trump.
Mic drop.
Posted by: NoMoreBS ||
11/20/2024 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
But they gave Sam Britton nuclear clearance.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/20/2024 5:24 Comments ||
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#7
Trump can pull the security clearance from anyone. First day he needs to pull them from all the active and retired CIA and military that supported the russia scandal. Then if the FBI slow rolls his cabinet he can start cutting the clearance at the top of every department that they are slow rolling, to include the heads of those departments. It would be a good start toward draining the swamp. hey can, of course appeal the decision, but that can take years...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/20/2024 10:16 Comments ||
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#8
Trump can pull clearances and he can grant clearances. He does not even really have to do it in writing, but I am sure he will.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/20/2024 12:16 Comments ||
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#10
This is the single most potent tool to tame the IC swamp! Clearances are the literal life's blood of the IC world. Ruthless action to gut a few leading enemies access to the SCIF and those in the IC world with careers left to pursue will settle down, at least overtly, with many just bunkering in to see how long they are being monitored.
[ToI] With legislation almost certain to fail given bipartisan backing for Israel, administration’s decision to weigh in shows desire for party to maintain pro-Israel stance after election
The Biden administration is lobbying Democratic senators to vote against legislation being advanced by several of the party’s most progressive members that would block more than $20 billion in weapon shipments to Israel, two US officials told The Times of Israel on Tuesday.
The series of Joint Resolutions of Disapproval co-sponsored by Senators Bernie Sanders, Peter Welch, Jeff Merkley and Brian Schatz are slated to come to a vote on Wednesday and aim to block six weapon transfers to Israel, which include guided missiles, tank rounds, mortars, tactical vehicles and F-15 fighter jets.
While the votes are all but certain to fail, given the strong support for Israel in both parties — particularly the GOP — they are likely to mark a watershed moment in a more divided Democratic Party that is still working to understand the lessons of this month’s election, which saw Republicans win the White House and Senate and keep their majority in the House.
The Biden administration’s decision to engage on the matter demonstrates its desire for the Democratic Party to maintain a pro-Israel posture post-election.
While moderates have argued that the party did too much to cater to its progressive wing, including by staking out adversarial positions toward Israel, lawmakers such as “Squad” member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have charged that the party catered to special interest groups such as the pro-Israel AIPAC lobby and therefore lost support — a claim denounced by several mainstream Jewish organizations.
Accordingly, the progressive flank is looking for a strong showing during Wednesday’s voting in the Senate to demonstrate that the party should take a harder line on Israel than under Biden.
In making the case against the Senate resolutions, Biden aides have argued that the weapons in question are essential for Israel’s defense and won’t be delivered for another year or two, “so the likelihood of them being used in this iteration of the Gaza context is very low,” explained one US official.
“At a time when Hezbollah is about to agree to a ceasefire, now is not the time to send a message to Israel’s adversaries that there is a break in the relationship between the United States and Israel,” the US official continued. “It actually only encourages Israel’s adversaries to be more obstinate and sends a terrible message to Iran, as Iran considers retaliation against Israel.”
The official went on to reject arguments from some Democratic senators who have expressed willingness to back the legislation while arguing that they still support sending defensive weapons to Israel.
Sanders also noted that other Western allies have taken similar steps to curb weapons shipments to Israel such as the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
#3
Illinois politicians have often ignored Federal rules and laws and flaunt their 'Struggle against Washington' to their constituents. They also have done the same with actual Illinois rules and laws, calling them 'antiquated' when it suits them.
It goes without saying that there is seldom any backlash except for maybe a 'strongly worded letter' or two.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
11/20/2024 8:38 Comments ||
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#4
Chicago politicians. The rest of Illinois is truly MAGA country.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/20/2024 12:22 Comments ||
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#5
re #4
I lived in Ill. back in the '60s. The '68 election was odd to me (hadn't been there long) seems all the downstate districts wouldn't report till after Cook Co. because of previous cases of "oh we need X thousand votes to win, well looked here...."
That's the only way Nixon won, they counted down state AFTER all the Daley crap had been seen.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Rabble-rouser Marjorie Taylor Greene is stirring up drama on Capitol Hill yet again by repeatedly and purposefully calling the first openly transgender woman in Congress a 'man.'
Speaking to reporters on the Capitol steps Monday evening the Georgia Republican gave a full-throated endorsement of a proposal from Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., that would prevent the first trans member from using women's bathrooms.
Delaware Democratic Representative-elect Sarah McBride - who will become the first openly trans member of Congress - is expected to be sworn in come January 2025.
But Mace says they should not be 'allowed in women's private spaces,' like the ladies' rooms around the Capitol complex.
Greene doubled down on Mace's resolution, saying: 'He's a man. He's a biological male, so he is not allowed to use our women's restrooms, our women's gym, our locker rooms and our spaces that are that are specified for women.
'He's a biological male,' she said again. 'He has plenty of places he can go.'
Greene even shot down the idea of having gender-neutral bathrooms in Congress.
'No,' she said to the idea, adding 'he can go in the men's room and he has a bathroom in his office just like all of us do.'
'I use the restroom most of the time in my office,' Greene reasoned. 'He has a bathroom that will be designated for him.'
Mace's proposal prohibits House members and staffers from 'using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.'
Greene even suggested expanding the trans bathroom measure to 'all taxpayer funded facilities.'
Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday told the Republican conference at large that Mace's proposal will be included in an upcoming legislative package.
#13
I don't care what anyone says -- tax dollars should not be used for Ms. McBride's prostate exam.
Posted by: Matt ||
11/20/2024 12:52 Comments ||
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#14
At least one of them has balls. lol
Posted by: Marilyn Shoger7185 ||
11/20/2024 16:20 Comments ||
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#15
“Modified male” is the term I prefer.
I just mentally replace the word "trans" with "fake". A trans woman is a fake woman, AKA a man.
It is nice to see someone standing up to this bullshit. As an American, you have the right to go to Hell in your own personal way, but there is nothing in the Constitution that says the rest of us have to play along.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
