Tag: democrats

Twitter Files: Company Exaggerated Russian Influence to Appease Media, Democrats

Twitter deliberately exaggerated the extent of Russian influence on its platform in an attempt to appease the media and Democrats, even after internal investigations into the matter proved a “dud,” according to journalist Matt Taibbi, who released another batch of the Twitter Files today.

Twitter initially tried to stay out of the spotlight on the Russia issue in 2017, hoping Facebook would remain the main target of scrutiny from the media and Democrats. Twitter’s PR department even agreed on a media strategy to “keep the focus on FB.”

But after being slammed by Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) for an “inadequate” response to allegations of Russian meddling, Twitter’s public policy VP said the company should “keep producing material” on Russian interference to satisfy the Democrats. As a result, Twitter formed a “Russia Task Force,” to investigate Russian influence on the platform.

But the task force found little evidence of significant Russian involvement on the platform. In October 2017, the task force reported that it had found “no evidence of a coordinated approach, all of the accounts found seem to be lone-wolf type activity (different timing, spend, targeting, <$10k in ad spend).”

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Dem Senator Claims “Hate” is Not Protected by First Amendment, Later Admits He’s Wrong

Democratic Senator Ben Cardin suggested that “hate” is “not protected under the First Amendment” during a hearing, but later had to clarify that he was wrong.

The Maryland lawmaker made the comments while speaking with US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Deborah Lipstadt and American Jewish Committee Director of International Jewish Affairs Rabbi Andrew Baker.

“If you espouse hate, if you espouse violence, you’re not protected under the First Amendment,” Cardin falsely claimed.

“I think we can be more aggressive in the way that we handle that type of use of the internet,” he added, suggesting such content should be censored by Big Tech and the state.

It goes without saying that the term “hate” is completely arbitrary and has been weaponized by the left to chill scrutiny of everything from children being exposed to drag queens to legitimate criticism of public figures.

That’s why “hate” and even “hate speech” is protected by the First Amendment.

Cardin was subsequently forced to correct himself on Twitter, writing, “Hate speech is protected under the #FirstAmendment, unless it incites violence.”

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A Dem-Linked Dark Money Network Is Quietly Funding The ‘Misinformation’ Research Industry

Several funds managed by Arabella Advisors, a Democrat-linked consultant firm, are quietly bankrolling research by universities and non-profits into how online “misinformation” and “disinformation” spreads, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of the networks’ grants.

Arabella Advisors, run by former Bill Clinton official Eric Kessler, manages certain administrative, legal and philanthropic functions of several non-profits including the Sixteen Thirty Fund, Hopewell Fund, North Fund and New Venture Fund, which donate to a variety of left-leaning groups, causes and Democratic candidates, according to tax filings and statements on the funds’ and Arabella’s websites. Several funds within the network are also sponsoring research into the effects of, and how best to mitigate, misinformation and disinformation, according to a DCNF review of public grants.

Many of the Arabella-funded research projects cite conservatives predominantly as purveyors of misinformation, with several projects recommending solutions to mitigate the spread of misinformation, including censorship.

The New Venture Fund sponsored a project in March called “The True Costs of Misinformation” at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, led by the center’s research director Joan Donovan, that sought to study the impacts of online misinformation, particularly on “vulnerable communities,” according to the project’s description. The project included a workshop featuring several panels on different topics related to the alleged impacts of misinformation.

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Democrat senators reintroduce bill to declare racism public health crisis

Democratic Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Alex Padilla of California and Sherrod Brown of Ohio have reintroduced a Senate resolution that would “declare racism a public health crisis.”

Brown and Padilla are also cosponsors of the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act that would establish a federal commission to study slavery reparations. Booker, the sponsor of the reparations study bill, wrote a letter to President Biden in June calling on him to support the commission. 

Brown, Booker, and then-Sen. Kamala Harris had originally introduced the legislation to deem racism a public health crisis in July 2020, and Booker and Padilla reintroduced it in April 2021 and again on Tuesday.

“We will not make progress until we acknowledge and address all of the ways that centuries of racism and oppression have harmed Black and brown Americans,” said Brown in a statement. “This resolution is an important step toward recognizing the racial disparities in healthcare that have existed for far too long while also outlining concrete action we can take now to help reverse them. Though this resolution is not a solution in and of itself, it will help to lay the foundation for change that is continually subverted by and for the status quo. I am proud to join my colleagues in introducing this important resolution.”

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Bipartisan Bill Would Let Americans Voluntarily Give Up Gun Rights

Congress is trying to pass a bill to allow the federal government to pressure people to give up their Second Amendment rights in the name of suicide prevention. At the same time, newly released documents show multiple federal law enforcement agencies have effectively done this to people without congressional approval.

On Thursday, Gun Owners of America (GOA), put all its evidence online that shows the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has permanently disarmed people. The gun rights group is lobbying on Capitol Hill to stop this practice from being codified.

The bipartisan bill called the “Preventing Suicide Through Voluntary Firearm Purchase Delay Act” passed the Judiciary Committee last week. It says the FBI would create a new database for people who volunteer to be blocked from buying or possessing a gun. The “delay” in the bill title refers to the period from which the person put themselves into the database and potentially subsequently took themselves out of it.

The FBI program, which claims it ended in 2019, and the House bill both use a “self-submission” program to make people prohibited who could not be blocked from having a gun under current law. The Brady Law of 1993 created the NICS system of background checks to help enforce the nine prohibited categories of people (from the Gun Control Act of 1968 ) from buying guns.

The House bill would upend federal background check gun law by making it arbitrary who loses the right to own or buy a gun. Under current law, a person is prohibited from buying or owning a firearm for mental health reasons only due to being adjudicated as mentally defective or involuntarily committed to a mental institution. The House bill makes it so people in this new FBI database who have not experienced these situations would still be committing a federal crime by possessing a gun.

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California Democrat Congresswoman Katie Porter Claims Pedophilia is Not a Crime, It’s an ‘Identity’

Congresswoman Katie Porter, a California Democrat, is claiming that pedophilia is not a crime but rather an “identity” as the LGBT plague leads to children being sexualized and exploited by predators on a grand scale.

“The allegation of groomer and pedophile, it is alleging that a person is criminal somehow or engaged in criminal acts merely because of their identity, their sexual orientation, their gender identity,” she said.

Porter is calling for Twitter and other social media platforms to censor any comments that exposes pedophiles and groomers in order to protect the feelings of people who have this “identity.”

“Instead of taking [comments exposing groomers and pedophiles] down, Twitter elevated them, allowing them to reach an approximate 72 million users. This is not just about what happens online. What happens online translates into real harms into people’s lives,” she said.

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Energy Dept Security Vetting Questioned After Nuclear Waste Official’s Felony Arrest

A  senator demanded the Department of Energy (DOE) investigate its security clearance process after ousting a nonbinary nuclear waste official.

Sam Brinton was the gender-fluid deputy assistant secretary of the Biden administration’s Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition. He now faces 10 years imprisonment, accused of stealing luggage valued at greater than $3,600 from a Las Vegas airport.

Brinton has been charged with a similar crime for allegedly stealing a designer roller bag from the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.

Fox News further reported:

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., is calling on the Department of Energy (DOE) to launch an internal investigation into its security clearance process after the agency ousted Sam Brinton, the non-binary nuclear waste official who is now facing the possibility of significant prison time.

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