Tag: 2024 elections

J6 Committee Admits Its Show Trials Were An Election-Year Publicity Stunt

Key members of the since-disbanded Select Committee on January 6th admit in a new PBS documentary that the entire operation was an election-year publicity stunt.

On Wednesday, Frontline PBS published a new documentary, “Democracy on Trial,” chronicling the House committee’s work. Pivotal players on the partisan probe conceded in the two-and-half-hour documentary that the panel’s public performances produced for prime-time television were orchestrated as entertainment media.

“The one thing that we knew was the information that we have is compelling,” said Illinois congressman-turned CNN commentator Adam Kinzinger. “The thing we needed to do was tell that to the American people in a compelling way.”

The Jan. 6 Committee turned to former ABC News President James Goldston to produce their hearings that occurred just months before the 2022 midterms. The panel also hired another producer whose résumé included stints at Bloomberg, ABC News “Nightline,” and “Good Morning America.”

“I got a call pretty much out of the blue from the January 6th committee,” Goldson told the documentary. “They wanted a storyteller.”

“While they were brilliant lawyers,” Goldston added, “storytelling for a mass audience is not what they do.”

“To bring in a guy like this who would think outside the box really did prove to be fruitful,” Robert Draper of New York Times Magazine tells the PBS documentarians. “It was Golston who really began to envision this as in a way a kind of miniseries that there would be sort of nine episodes and that these episodes would tackle particular themes.”

The first episode in the summer series ultimately pulled dismal ratings despite the committee’s biggest fans attempting to encourage viewership with free ice cream watch parties. Months before the season premier, House Democrats conceded the committee’s investigation was central to the party’s plans to maintain the majority in the November midterms.

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Media Still Claims Biden Campaign-Taylor Swift Plot is a “Conspiracy Theory”

The legacy media is still characterizing the fact that the Biden campaign is working with Taylor Swift for voter recruitment as a crazy conspiracy theory, despite also acknowledging that this is in fact taking place.

In one instance, CNN reported that the Biden campaign was feverishly working behind the scenes to secure the pop star’s endorsement.

Yet later that same day, on the same network, the notion that there was a “psyop” at work to elevate Swift via her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce was aggressively dismissed.

Hosts on CNN News Central characterized the claim that the Biden campaign was in “cahoots” with Swift to influence voters and “try to get President Biden re-elected” as a nonsensical “conspiracy theory”.

The hosts then rounded on Jack Posobiec for daring to suggest that “the Democratic Party and other powers are gearing up for an operation to use Taylor Swift in the election against Donald Trump,” as well as Fox News’ Jesse Watters for asking if Swift was a “front for a covert political agenda.”

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Our Democracy™: The Democratic Weaponization Of Government And The Need For Decentralization

Reading Matt Taibbi’s summary how the Democrats weaponized the government against Donald Trump, starting before the election of 2016 and proceeding right up to the present moment, I am reminded once again that the issue is not democracy but “Our Democracy™.”

That is, the Democrats and their deep-state allies in the media and the myriad bureaucracies that actually run the country believe that democracy means “rule by Democrats.”  As Taibbi puts it, “To ‘protect democracy,’ democracy is already being canceled. We just haven’t admitted the implications of this to ourselves yet.”

This is true. Hence the plethora of handwringing articles warning that Donald Trump is a “dictator”-in-waiting, a new Hitler, a refurbished Mussolini who, should he be reelected, will mobilize the military to impose his will on a hapless American populace. Taibbi quotes from a December 2023 “strategy memo” in which Biden’s puppeteers describe Trump as “an existential threat to democracy.”

It sounds absurd.  It is absurd.  But, as I and many others have pointed out, that is the story we are being asked to swallow. This is the logic:

Trump is a “threat to democracy.”

Ergo, we must use “any means necessary” to keep him off the ballot.

Otherwise, people might vote for him, and that would be “bad for democracy.”

The arrogance of this gambit is breathtaking. It assumes, with Liz Cheneyesque smugness, that ordinary people cannot be entrusted with so important a task as electing their leaders. Only anointed saviors like Liz Cheney can do that. But alongside the arrogance of the we-have-to-destroy-democracy-in-order-to-save-it mindset is the chilling revelation of the extremes to which the people in power are willing to go in order to preserve their prerogatives. They will, for example, censor any opinion they do not like as “malinformation,” i.e., an opinion that might be true but is not consistent with The Narrative. It all adds up to what I have called “the Sovietization of America.”

What, as Lenin famously asked, is to be done?

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Biden is set to RAISE taxes to help fund social security benefits as the president desperately tries to make up ground in polling against Trump ahead of the general election

President Joe Biden‘s camp is examining strategies to make up for lost ground in the upcoming presidential election, and raising taxes on the wealthy to bolster Social Security is on the table.

According to a recent party nominee satisfaction poll by ABC News and IPSOS, Donald Trump leads at 72 percent among leaned Republicans, with Biden trailing 57 percent among leaned Democrats.

According to the latest Harvard-Harris poll, Trump holds a 53 to 47 lead over Biden in general election polling.  

With Trump emerging as the most likely GOP frontrunner, the current President’s aides have floated the idea of imposing new taxes on the wealthy to help further fund Social Security benefits, sources tell the Washington Post.

As the former President has vowed once again to protect Social Security if elected, some Biden advisors believe this move could help define the contrast between economic policy on either side of the aisle.

It would require Biden to expand his proposed tax increases, although they would not affect people earning under $400,000 per year, people familiar with the matter told the publication.

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Ron DeSantis Blocks Disabled Parking Spots at Iowa Event When Its -12 Degrees Outside – Then Kicks Out Handicapped Man in Wheelchair Inside

As reported earlier – A disabled man in a wheelchair and a conservative podcaster, Matt Kim, were removed from Ron DeSantis’s campaign event on the eve of the Iowa caucuses. The reasons behind this unexpected removal remain unclear, sparking confusion and frustration among the individuals involved.

The incident, which was caught on video, shows the disabled attendee, who had just entered the venue, being promptly escorted out by security personnel.

When asked for an explanation, the security guard could only mention that he was “following orders,” leaving the disabled man visibly confused by the unexpected turn of events.

The individual was reported to be wearing a hat bearing the name of Brenden Dilley, host of The Dilley Show and a Trump supporter. Dilley took to social media to express his disbelief.

“Ron DeSantis just had a man in a wheelchair thrown out of his event because he was wearing a hat with my name on it, while he was listening to the speeches. Unreal,” Dilley wrote.

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DeSantis Says He Would ‘Respect The Decisions That States Make’ On Marijuana Legalization, Despite Personal Opposition

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) says he would “respect the decisions that states make” on marijuana legalization if he’s elected president, despite his personal view that the reform has a “negative impact.”

At a campaign event in Iowa on Saturday, the 2024 Republican presidential candidate briefly shared how he would navigate the growing state legalization movement from the White House, pledging to adopt a hands-off approach like that of prior administrations from both parties.

DeSantis started by noting that Florida voters enacted medical cannabis legalization as a constitutional amendment at the ballot, and then he criticized what he views as shortcomings of broader adult-use legalization before explaining how he’d address it as president.

“I think the places that have done it for recreational use like Colorado, I don’t think it’s worked well,” he said in comments first noted by Florida Politics. “I think it’s caused problems in the cities. I think it’s created a black market.”

“We’ll respect the decisions that the states make on that,” the governor said. “But I do think some of these places like California and Colorado—I don’t know what they did with it, but, I mean, it has definitely caused a negative impact on their workforce.”

Colorado has been a frequent target of DeSantis’s criticism, with the candidate also claiming recently that the state’s illicit cannabis market is “bigger” today than it was prior to voters approving legalization in 2012.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’s (D) office pushed back against that position in a statement to Marijuana Moment last week, asserting that the reform is “curbing the illicit market, getting dealers off the streets, reducing youth use, funding school construction, supporting jobs and Colorado’s economy.”

“Colorado is happy to provide the Florida governor advice on how to increase economic and personal freedom like we have in the free state of Colorado,” a spokesperson said.

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Massachusetts Lawmakers Will Be Forced To Consider Psychedelics Legalization Measure That Activists Petitioned For, State Official Says

Massachusetts officials have certified that activists submitted enough valid signatures to force legislative consideration of a psychedelics legalization initiative before the measure potentially heads to the state’s 2024 ballot.

Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin’s (D) office certified that the campaign Massachusetts for Mental Health Options (MMHO) collected 96,277 valid signatures for the reform measure—about 20,000 more than required to put the issue before legislators.

Accordingly, the proposal has now been officially transmitted to the legislature.

“This brings psilocybin and other breakthrough psychedelic therapies one big step closer to being available to adults dealing with depression, anxiety and other mental health challenges,” Jennifer Manley, committee spokesperson, said in a press release on Wednesday.

“We look forward to working with legislative leaders on the possibility and promise of natural psychedelic medicine as we continue our work to provide therapeutic access to these groundbreaking treatments,” she said. “We thank the secretary and his staff for their service reviewing the nearly 100,000 signatures submitted in support, as well as the volunteers and advocates who spent many hours talking to voters around the state.”

The announcement came after a longer-than-usual review process, which was due to an especially high volume of ballot proposals that were being circulated for the 2024 election cycle.

The MMHO measure would create a regulatory framework for lawful and supervised access to psychedelics at licensed facilities. It would also legalize the possession and gifting of psychedelics such as psilocybin and ayahuasca, but it would not otherwise provide for commercial retail sales of the substances.

“We are on the precipice of a sea change in the way we can help people who may believe they have run out of options,” Winthrop police lieutenant Sarko Gergerian, one of the campaign’s backers, said. “Don’t lose hope. These options could be available soon for you and your loved ones here in Massachusetts.”

The campaign first filed two different psychedelics reform initiatives in August, and after the state attorney general determined that they both met the constitutional requirement for ballot placement the following months, activists decided to pursue the version that included a home cultivation option.

Now that the secretary of state has verified the signature count, the legislature will now have the choice to enact the reform, propose a substitute or decline to act. If lawmakers decide not to legalize psychedelics by May 1, activists would then have until July 3 to submit at least 12,429 additional valid signatures to put the proposal before voters on the November 2024 ballot.

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Maine Secretary of State Claims Politics Played ‘No Role’ in Booting Trump Off Ballot

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has denied that politics played any role in her unilateral decision to bar former President Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot, as she faces backlash that includes a push for her impeachment.

Ms. Bellows, whose office oversees elections in Maine, ruled on Dec. 28 to disqualify President Trump, who currently leads the Republican primary race, from the state’s 2024 presidential primary ballot on the grounds that he supposedly incited an “insurrection” when a crowd breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Her decision was based on an interpretation of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars people from holding office if they’ve engaged in an “insurrection or rebellion” against the U.S. government. President Trump, who has denied such allegations, has not been charged with insurrection.

While Ms. Bellows has been accused of making a politically-driven decision to interfere in the election, she denied that her decision to disqualify President Trump from the ballot was political.

“Politics and my personal views played no role,” Ms. Bellows, a Democrat, claimed in a Jan. 1 interview with NPR. “I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, and that is what I did.”

Despite such denials, Ms. Bellows has faced sharp criticism.

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Media Outlets Are Already Calling for Online 2024 Election Censorship

The page has only just been turned on 2023 and already the narrative that much policing of online speech will be vital for 2024, an election year, has already stirred.

The legacy media outlet The Guardian, in its piece about Kate Starbird, has already complained that there may be less censorship ahead of the 2024 elections, and claimed that Rep. Jim Jordan’s committee’s reports on Big Tech-government censorship collusion are based on “outlandish claims.” This is ignoring the fact that an injunction was successfully placed on the Biden administration for its censorship pressure on Big Tech, a case that will be ruled on by The Supreme Court this year.

In an era where the policing of online speech is increasingly contentious, Kate Starbird’s role in combating what she terms election misinformation has placed her squarely in the midst of a heated debate. As a leading figure at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, Starbird has actively engaged in documenting what she and her team perceive as misinformation during the 2020 elections, particularly focusing on claims of voter fraud.

However, Starbird’s approach and her team’s actions have not been without controversy. Critics argue that their efforts amount to a form of censorship, infringing upon free speech. This criticism extends beyond Starbird’s team to a broader national trend, where researchers engaged in similar work face accusations of partisanship and censorship, challenging the principles of free expression.

Jim Jordan, chair of the House judiciary committee, has emerged as a key figure in opposing what he views as the overreach of these researchers. He has focused on investigating groups and individuals involved in counteracting misinformation, especially in the context of elections and Covid-19. Central to the controversy is the practice of working with government entities and flagging content to social media platforms, which some argue leads to undue censorship and violates First Amendment rights.

The debate over the role of anti-misinformation efforts has escalated beyond Congress, evidenced by lawsuits from the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana and from the state of Texas, along with two rightwing media companies. These legal actions challenge the alleged collaboration between the Biden administration, the Global Engagement Center, and social media companies, showing it as a constitutional breach.

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‘Significant Problem’: Ex-CIA Analyst Warns Intel Agencies Will Meddle in 2024 Election to Stop Trump

A former CIA analyst is sounding the alarm about plans by intelligence agencies to get politically involved in the 2024 election to stop the Republican candidate.

Dr. John Gentry, a Georgetown professor who spent 12 years as a CIA intelligence analyst, said the politicization of intelligence agencies in the age of Trump has become a “significant problem” and is confident they will interfere in the 2024 election.

“My guess is that the the proverbial Deep State within the intelligence community will reemerge because presumably a Republican candidate will again be seen as a threat to the internal policies that many intelligence people like,” Gentry told Fox News.

Gentry pointed out how the CIA in a “clearly political” move days before the 2020 election with the “intent to help the Biden campaign” approved a letter penned by 51 former intelligence officials falsely claiming the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop published by the New York Post was “Russian disinformation.”

Gentry said he expects intelligence agencies to resume similar political ploys ahead of the 2024 election.

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