Curiously Curated Conspiracies, Cover Ups and Corruption. All content is 'for your consideration' only. "The Truth, when you finally chase it down, is almost always far worse than your darkest visions and fears." ~ Hunter S. Thompson
The medical doctor who runs the Arizona Republican Party had her Twitter account “temporarily limited” for spreading misinformation during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Twitter has ‘temporarily limited’ the account features of Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward after determining she violated its policy on spreading misleading and ‘potentially harmful’ information about the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Arizona Republicreported Tuesday. “Ward, a physician, has downplayed the severity of the virus’s spread in Arizona, even as caseloads skyrocketed and the state spiraled into a national hot spot.
Just before noon Saturday, police officers in Marshall, Minn., were called to the town’s Walmart on a report that two shoppers were wearing masks emblazoned with swastikas.
Another shopper, Raphaela Mueller, the vicar of a southwest Minnesota parish, filmed the swastika-wearing man and woman as they were confronted by others in the store. Then she posted the video on Facebook, where it went viral.
“If you vote for Biden, you’re going to be living in Nazi Germany,” the woman with the swastika mask told Mueller, as her companion bagged up toilet paper and an enormous canister of cheeseballs. The two were apparently using the masks to protest Minnesota’s mask mandate, which took effect Saturday.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY RAPHAELA MUELLERA couple wearing swastika masks (behind the front customer) made defiant gestures at other shoppers who reacted negatively to their masks on Saturday at the Wal-Mart in Marshall, Minn.TEXT SIZEEMAILPRINTMORE
Just before noon Saturday, police officers in Marshall, Minn., were called to the town’s Walmart on a report that two shoppers were wearing masks emblazoned with swastikas.
Another shopper, Raphaela Mueller, the vicar of a southwest Minnesota parish, filmed the swastika-wearing man and woman as they were confronted by others in the store. Then she posted the video on Facebook, where it went viral.
“If you vote for Biden, you’re going to be living in Nazi Germany,” the woman with the swastika mask told Mueller, as her companion bagged up toilet paper and an enormous canister of cheeseballs. The two were apparently using the masks to protest Minnesota’s mask mandate, which took effect Saturday.https://cdn.iframe.ly/H8N5yOO?v=1&app=1
Per the store’s request, law enforcement served trespass notices to the 59-year-old man and 64-year-old woman, warning them that if they will face arrest should they return. The two departed without incident and charges were not pursued.
The Sinclair Broadcast Group said Saturday it is pulling from the air an edition of its “America This Week” program that discusses a conspiracy theory involving Dr. Anthony Fauci and the coronavirus.
Sinclair spokesman Michael Padovano said Sinclair hopes to add context and other viewpoints and still air the controversial segment on the next week’s edition of “America This Week.”
Meanwhile, Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, talked in detail in a new podcast about the “serious threats” and hate mail directed his way.
“America This Week” is hosted by Eric Bolling, a former Fox News Channel personality, and sent to stations Sinclair owns in 81 markets. The show it initially distributed for this weekend’s show featured an interview with Judy Mikovits, maker of the widely discredited “Plandemic” video, and her lawyer, Larry Klayman.
Mikovits, an anti-vaccine activist, said she believed that Fauci manufactured the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and shipped it to China. There has been no evidence that the virus was produced in a lab, much less any of Fauci’s involvement.
Google will ban ads promoting coronavirus conspiracy theories, remove ads from pages that promote these theories, and demonetize entire sites that frequently violate the policy starting on August 18th. CNBC reported the news earlier today, noting that it supplements an existing ban on monetizing harmful medical misinformation.
A Google spokesperson confirmed that the new policy will cover pages contradicting an “authoritative scientific consensus” on the coronavirus pandemic. While Google already demonetizes false health claims, it will soon do the same for false claims about the virus’s origins, for example. The policy won’t apply to pages debunking or reporting on the existence of these theories, and it doesn’t apply to non-coronavirus-related conspiracy theories.
“We are putting additional safeguards in place by expanding our harmful health claims policies for both publishers and advertisers to include dangerous content about a health crisis that contradicts scientific consensus,” a spokesperson told The Verge.
Google and other large web platforms have struggled with a constantly shifting information (and misinformation) landscape around the pandemic. The company briefly banned all non-governmental coronavirus-related as in March, but it lifted the ban after complaints from Democratic campaign organizations. It has also demonetized YouTube videos about the pandemic, a tack it’s taken with many sensitive topics. And amid product shortages early in the pandemic, it temporarily banned ads for the sale of face masks — a policy Facebook also adopted.
Anew Cato national survey finds that self‐censorship is on the rise in the United States. Nearly two-thirds—62%—of Americans say the political climate these days prevents them from saying things they believe because others might find them offensive. The share of Americans who self‐censor has risen several points since 2017 when 58% of Americans agreed with this statement.
These fears cross partisan lines. Majorities of Democrats (52%), independents (59%) and Republicans (77%) all agree they have political opinions they are afraid to share.
Liberals Are Divided on Political Expression
Strong liberals stand out, however, as the only political group who feel they can express themselves. Nearly 6 in 10 (58%) of staunch liberals feel they can say what they believe. However, centrist liberals feel differently. A slim majority (52%) of liberals feel they have to self‐censor, as do 64% of moderates, and 77% of conservatives. This demonstrates that political expression is an issue that divides the Democratic coalition between centrist Democrats and their left flank.
QAnon is one of the most annoying things on Twitter and its followers are morons. And, also, it is dangerous and unacceptable that monopolistic Silicon Valley tech plutocrats are exerting more and more control over human communication.
I criticize QAnon constantly and find its acolytes intensely irritating. And, also, I don’t want monopolistic tech billionaires paternalistically protecting my fragile little mind from them.
In a corporatist system of government, where few meaningful distinctions exist between corporate power and state power, corporate censorship is state censorship. Permitting such a thing, to any extent, is extremely hazardous for the future of human development.
Hellbound and Down 
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