[FoxNews] Conservatives on Twitter blasted a recently surfaced video of the Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Rachel Levine calling on Big Tech companies to censor "misinformation" about "gender-affirming care" for kids on the internet.
Levine, a transgender woman, made the statements in May, though the video gained newfound attention on Twitter just after Christmas. Prominent Twitter users expressed horror that a government official was asking tech companies to censor content disputing that gender-affirming care for youth is a thing of "positive value."
During a May 27 zoom address to the Federation of State Medical Boards in New Orleans, Dr. Levine spoke about the need for the government to "address health misinformation directly" and specified that includes encouraging Big Tech to combat health misinformation "beyond COVID-19."
#2
It would be interesting to see favorability polling on Kamala, Buttigieg, Mayorkas, Garland and Levine. It seems like they would eventually shuffle the deck on some these staff members because of the unpopularity of all Obama’s policies. I don’t think they would ditch Levine who is more of meme rather than an actual staff member in the same was that the actor who plays Flo is actually indirectly paid by Progressives Insurance but doesn’t do desk work. Levine actually works at a desk and probably does something valueless that everyone thinks of as work, but Levine’s value to The Regime is on camera only.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/27/2022 10:36 Comments ||
Top||
#3
In a sane world that ugly guy in a dress would be mocked endlessly every time it dared appear in public.
#4
Think of all the things we place age limits on because a childs/teens mind and reasoning is not fully developed to understand the greater ramifications and issues.
[PJ] This is an article to show your haughty, "know-it-all" brother-in-law who thinks our government is somehow squeaky clean.
The "Twitter Files" have now officially had more sequels than Planet of the Apes and can be difficult to absorb. Thus, I don’t think they’re getting the attention they deserve.
For those of you not following the "Twitter Files" drops, let me catch you up on what I believe are some of the most important parts:
The FBI paid Twitter $3.5 million to censor conservatives.
The FBI pressured Twitter to give them information that would legally require warrants, though they did not have warrants.
Leading up to the 2020 election, the FBI would eventually hold weekly meetings with Twitter and tell them whose tweets to squelch and which accounts they wanted to be suspended. Almost all were those of conservatives.
The FBI knew the Hunter Biden laptop story was real, they knew it was coming out — weeks before the 2020 election — and they told Big Tech to expect a "Russian disinformation" drop and squelch the story. That means the FBI corrupted the election to help Joe "totally showered with his daughter, Ashley" Biden.
There are so many former FBI employees at Twitter that they have their own Slack channel.
In response to the "Twitter Files" detailing how the FBI-Twitter circle jerk was real, the bureau called the allegations "conspiracy theories" but never actually denied its relationship with Twitter.
Elon Musk provided the world with an early Christmas present on Saturday with Twitter Files Pt. IX. I’ll sum it up so you can avoid the Twitter mess and get to the relevant facts:
The FBI was a portal, specifically the San Francisco office, for other government agencies to get to Twitter to surveil and censor Americans.
Hiding under the title of Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), actors from local police departments to the Department of Defense (DOD) and the CIA were watching and censoring Americans — not foreigners.
Twitter wasn’t the only Big Tech firm hip-deep in spooks. The feds had their fingers in Verizon, Reddit, Facebook, Microsoft, and, for some reason, Pinterest.
As the 2020 election neared, the FBI-FITF assailed Twitter with hundreds of requests to censor Twitter accounts and tweets. There were so many requests that Twitter execs had to come up with a system to prioritize them.
FBI employees were tasked with doing word searches on Twitter, looking for violations of Twitter policies — instead of chasing actual criminals.
The FBI had roughly 80 agents working with Big Tech companies. It is unclear how many members of the DOD, CIA, etc. were involved
What Have We Learned?
We have learned the FBI is not the only government agency censoring and surveilling Americans. Twitter was a veritable "pig pile" when it comes to spying on We the People. The DOD, CIA, and even local police had their fingers in the pie. And Twitter was only one of the pies. Other Big Tech firms, including Facebook and Verizon (pssst that’s a cell phone carrier), were in on the game. Big Brother is watching. We are being spied on, and frequently silenced. Well, at least those of us who speak out against the Stalin-like censoring and surveilling of Americans.
[ZERO] Those hoping for a Christmastime government shutdown were once again disappointed when Congress passed a 4,000-page, $1.7 trillion omnibus appropriations bill that few, if any, Representatives and Senators read before voting on. The Republican leadership celebrated this bloated monstrosity because it spends $858 billion on warfare while "only" spending $772.5 billion on welfare.
No one should think Republican insistence on more warfare than welfare spending means Democrats oppose the warfare state. Under President Biden and a Democrat-controlled Congress, "defense" spending has increased by 4.3 percent over the last two years. Similarly, every Republican President in recent years—including two who had a Republican-controlled Congress for at least part of their term—supported huge increases in welfare state spending. Most Democrats only pretend to oppose warfare and most Republicans only pretend to oppose welfare to appease their parties’ respective bases.
The Omnibus appropriates a $44.5 billion giveaway to Ukraine. This brings the total US spending on Ukraine’s military to over $100 billion - approximately 50 percent more than Russia’s entire military budget! This money is spent in a conflict that does not affect US security, yet one that would likely have not occurred were it not for prior US meddling in the region.
The Omnibus bill provides $11.3 billion for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a $569.6 million increase and $524 billion above the President’s request. According to the Democratic leadership, the funding increase is so the FBI can better fight "extremist violence and domestic terrorists."
The public recently learned what the FBI considers an appropriate way to fight "extremism," with the release of emails between Twitter officials and the FBI. These memos show the Bureau was working with Twitter—and almost certainly other social media companies—to suppress certain stories, such as Hunter Biden’s laptop, and points of view, such as skepticism regarding masks, lockdowns, and vaccine mandates. The bureau even used taxpayer funds to reimburse Twitter for the costs of implementing these "requests." Government officials working with private companies to silence American citizens is a clear violation of the First Amendment.
#1
Although the fact that we are funding a study of roid rage hamsters pitted in gladiatorial combat is good to know, I would be more interested in knowing how the government is funding all these positions and efforts to suppress the 1st Amendment. I would also like to see it stopped.
BTW hamster battles differ from Michael Vick’s evil side gig only by the government grant.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/27/2022 10:43 Comments ||
Top||
[ZERO] Below is my column in the Hill on the need for a new "Church Committee" to investigate and reform the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after years of scandals involving alleged political bias. In response to criticism over its role in Twitter’s censorship system, the FBI lashed out against critics as "conspiracy theorists" spreading disinformation. However, it still refuses to supply new information on other companies, beyond Twitter, that it has paid to engage in censorship.
"Conspiracy theorists ... feeding the American public misinformation" is a familiar attack line for anyone raising free-speech concerns over the FBI’s role in social media censorship. What is different is that this attack came from the country’s largest law enforcement agency, the FBI — and, since the FBI has made combatting "disinformation" a major focus of its work, the labeling of its critics is particularly menacing.
Fifty years ago, the Watergate scandal provoked a series of events that transformed not only the presidency but federal agencies like the FBI. Americans demanded answers about the involvement of the FBI and other federal agencies in domestic politics. Ultimately, Congress not only investigated the FBI but later impanelled the Church Committee to investigate a host of other abuses by intelligence agencies.
A quick review of recent disclosures and controversies shows ample need for a new Church Committee:
The Russian investigations
The FBI previously was at the center of controversies over documented political bias. Without repeating the long history from the Russian influence scandal, FBI officials like Peter Strzok were fired after emails showed open bias against presidential candidate Donald Trump. The FBI ignored warnings that the so-called Steele dossier, largely funded by the Clinton campaign, was likely used by Russian intelligence to spread disinformation. It continued its investigation despite early refutations of key allegations or discrediting of sources.
Biden family business
The FBI has taken on the character of a Praetorian Guard when the Biden family has found itself in scandals.
For example, there was Hunter Biden’s handgun, acquired by apparently lying on federal forms. In 2018, the gun allegedly was tossed into a trash bin in Wilmington, Del., by Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter’s deceased brother and with whom Hunter had a relationship at the time. Secret Service agents reportedly appeared at the gun shop with no apparent reason, and Hunter later said the matter would be handled by the FBI. Nothing was done despite the apparent violation of federal law.
Later, the diary of Hunter’s sister, Ashley, went missing. While the alleged theft normally would be handled as a relatively minor local criminal matter, the FBI launched a major investigation that continued for months to pursue those who acquired the diary, which reportedly contains embarrassing entries involving President Biden. Such a massive FBI deployment shocked many of us, but the FBI built a federal case against those who took possession of the diary.
Targeting Republicans and conservatives
Recently the FBI was flagged for targeting two senior House Intelligence Committee staffers in grand jury subpoenas sent to Google. It has been criticized for using the Jan. 6 Capitol riot investigations to target conservative groups and GOP members of Congress, including seizing the phone of one GOP member.
The FBI also has been criticized for targeting pro-life violence while not showing the same vigor toward pro-choice violence.
Hunter’s laptop
While the FBI was eager to continue the Russian investigations with no clear evidence of collusion, it showed the opposite inclination when given Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop. The laptop would seem to be a target-rich environment for criminal investigators, with photos and emails detailing an array of potential crimes involving foreign transactions, guns, drugs and prostitutes. However, reports indicate that FBI officials moved to quash or slow any investigation.
The computer repairman who acquired the laptop, John Paul Mac Isaac, said he struggled to get the FBI to respond and that agents made thinly veiled threats regarding any disclosures of material related to the Biden family; he said one agent told him that "in their experience, nothing ever happens to people that don’t talk about these things."
The ’Twitter Files’
The "Twitter Files" released by Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, show as many as 80 agents targeting social-media posters for censorship on the site. This included alleged briefings that Twitter officials said was the reason they spiked the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story before the 2020 election.
The FBI sent 150 messages on back channels to just one Twitter official to flag accounts. One Twitter executive expressed unease over the FBI’s pressure, declaring: "They are probing & pushing everywhere they can (including by whispering to congressional staff)."
We also have learned that Twitter hired a number of retired FBI agents, including former FBI general counsel James Baker, who was a critical and controversial figure in past bureau scandals over political bias.
Attacking critics
It is not clear what is more chilling — the menacing role played by the FBI in Twitter’s censorship program, or its mendacious response to the disclosure of that role. The FBI has issued a series of "nothing-to-see-here" statements regarding the Twitter Files.
In its latest statement, the FBI insists it did not command Twitter to take any specific action when flagging accounts to be censored. Of course, it didn’t have to threaten the company — because we now have an effective state media by consent rather than coercion. Moreover, an FBI warning tends to concentrate the minds of most people without the need for a specific threat.
Finally, the files show that the FBI paid Twitter millions as part of this censorship system — a windfall favorably reported to Baker before he was fired from Twitter by Musk.
Criticizing the FBI is now ’disinformation’
Responding to the disclosures and criticism, an FBI spokesperson declared: "The men and women of the FBI work every day to protect the American public. It is unfortunate that conspiracy theorists and others are feeding the American public misinformation with the sole purpose of attempting to discredit the agency."
Arguably, "working every day to protect the American public" need not include censoring the public to protect it from errant or misleading ideas.
However, it is the attack on its critics that is most striking. While the FBI denounced critics of an earlier era as communists and "fellow travelers," it now uses the same attack narrative to label its critics as "conspiracy theorists."
After Watergate, there was bipartisan support for reforming the FBI and intelligence agencies. Today, that cacophony of voices has been replaced by crickets, as much of the media imposes another effective blackout on coverage of the Twitter Files. This media silence suggests that the FBI found the "sweet spot" on censorship, supporting the views of the political and media establishment.
As for the rest of us, the FBI now declares us to be part of a disinformation danger which it is committed to stamping out - "conspiracy theorists" misleading the public simply by criticizing the bureau.
Clearly, this is the time for a new Church Committee - and time to reform the FBI.
#2
Using counter CI, information deviation, and counter propaganda against the people they are sworn to defend is criminal.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/27/2022 10:03 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Criminal as an adjective meaning “related to a crime.” The FBI would defend their actions as not criminal and use as proof of their assertion that they have not charged themselves, prosecuted themselves or been found guilty in a court of law so their behavior is “not criminal.” This would be a good plot element to a sequel to Animal Farm.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/27/2022 10:19 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Ref #1: Dog comes home at night with chicken feathers in it's mouth. Sorry, only one known cure.
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.
[FoxNews] Conservatives on Twitter blasted a recently surfaced video of the Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary 
[ZERO] Below is my column in the Hill on the need for a new "Church Committee" to investigate and reform the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after years of scandals involving alleged political bias. In response to criticism over its role in Twitter’s censorship system, the FBI lashed out against critics as "conspiracy theorists" spreading disinformation. However, it still refuses to supply new information on other companies, beyond Twitter, that it has paid to engage in censorship.
