Tag: wrongthink

Attract Government Attention and Get Your Name Run Through a ‘Terrorist’ Database

In 2021, it’s unfortunately not surprising to learn about routine federal surveillance of people who attract official attention. We live, after all, at a moment when freedom looks haggard and unloved even in liberal democracies and a record number of journalists are behind bars. That the practice of running people’s names through multiple government databases appears to be routine doesn’t bode well for the United States, let alone the world beyond.

“Documents obtained by Yahoo News, including an inspector general report that spans more than 500 pages” expose snooping by Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Counter Network Division, Jana Winter wrote in a December 11 report. “The division, which still operates today, had few rules and routinely used the country’s most sensitive databases to obtain the travel records and financial and personal information of journalists, government officials, congressional members and their staff, NGO workers and others.”

CBP agent Jeffrey Rambo was initially implicated for inquiries about Ali Watkins, a reporter at The New York Times. That included “pulling email addresses, phone numbers and photos from passport applications and checking that information through numerous sensitive government databases, including the terrorism watchlist.” But it quickly becomes apparent that he’s been hung out to dry for doing what he was told by means that are considered normal within the federal government.

“According to records included in the inspector general report, such vetting was standard practice at the division,” Winter adds.

Given the range of tools available to the feds, it’s not a shock that their use has become rote. What’s the point of having vast (if unreliable) databases on people’s activities if you’re not going to use them? To the databases, add geotagging data and information scraped from social media by contractors. Running background checks as a matter of course may be creepy, but it’s difficult to imagine it not becoming standard practice when that information is available at agents’ fingertips.

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Penn State Employees Who Refuse Vaccination Face Reeducation

Despite a federal judge declaring President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate unconstitutional, Penn State University will keep its Jan. 4 deadline requiring employees to get vaccinated, and some employees who choose not to get vaccinated will be given education and counseling.

“Many of you know (the mandate) is being challenged in the courts so we don’t know the outcome of that process yet, but we are planning around it prevailing, and so implementing that mandate,” Penn State Provost Nicholas P. Jones said Tuesday in the University Faculty Senate meeting. “We’ve got to prepare because there’s not a lot of runway between now and January the fourth.”

The University is navigating two versions of the mandate. The federal contractor mandate applies to nine campuses and the College of Medicine, Wyatt DuBois, assistant director of University Public Relations told The Epoch Times in an email. Employees covered under the federal contractor mandate must upload proof to the university that they have received their final vaccine dose by Jan. 4 or be granted a disability/medical- or religious-related exemption. For those with an exemption, “accommodations will include a requirement to test weekly in the university testing protocol program,” DuBois said.

Employees at all other Penn State locations are subject to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) on vaccination and testing, which applies to employers with 100 or more employees. “Under the OSHA ETS, disability/medical- and/or religious-related accommodations are not required for an employee to be put into the testing protocol. So, employees at these locations must receive their final vaccine dose by Jan. 4 or test weekly for COVID-19,” DuBois said.

In other words, those under the OSHA rules won’t lose their jobs if they don’t get vaccinated, but those under the federal contractor mandate who are not granted an exemption could lose their job.

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CDC To ‘Educate And Counsel’ Those Who Refuse COVID-19 Vaccine

During an interview with Fox News host Chris Wallace, Center for Disease Control Director Rochelle Walensky said the agency has plans to “educate and counsel” defiant unvaccinated Americans.

Speaking to Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday, Center for Disease Control (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said her agency is planning to “educate and counsel” Americans who do not want to get the COVID-19 vaccine, which doesn’t prevent individuals from contracting or spreading coronavirus.

During the interview, Walensky also noted that despite reports last week, booster shots will not be changing individuals’ vaccination status. “I want to be very clear about that,” she said. “We do not have a plan to change that definition right now.”

However, the CDC in fact has changed the definition of coronavirus-related terms in the past. National File reported in early September that the agency altered the definition of vaccine as more and more individuals continued to be infected with COVID-19 despite being vaccinated.

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How The Amazon Web Hosting Crackdown Threatens Patreon, Substack, And You

Last week, Reuters reported based on two anonymous sources that Amazon Web Services, which controls 40 percent of web hosting in the world, “plans to take a more proactive approach to determine what types of content violate its cloud service policies.”

“Over the coming months, Amazon will hire a small group of people in its Amazon Web Services (AWS) division to develop expertise and work with outside researchers to monitor for future threats, one of the sources familiar with the matter said. It could turn Amazon, the leading cloud service provider worldwide with 40% market share according to research firm Gartner, into one of the world’s most powerful arbiters of content allowed on the internet, experts say.”

Amazon declined to comment to Reuters for the story, then after the article published sent a statement insisting the report was “wrong,” claiming, “‘AWS Trust & Safety has no plans to change its policies or processes, and the team has always existed.’”

“We’ve always reserved the right to police who is allowed to speak on our internet” is not a very comforting response to an article alleging a coming content crackdown. In addition, to this post-publication claim from Amazon, “A Reuters spokesperson said the news agency stands by its reporting.”

Don’t forget the context: The Biden administration revealed a few weeks ago that they, mafia-like, pressure big tech entities like Facebook and Twitter to remove information that contradicts their political goals. (“That’s an, um, ‘misinformed’ piece of content over there on your platform. Sure would be a shame if the super-touchy Democrats controlling the entire federal government decided it was a reason to regulate and legally harass you.”)

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Govt. Says Alleged Capitol Rioter Violated Terms of Release by Watching Mike Lindell’s Election Conspiracy Symposium

Douglas Jensen stands accused of leading a mob that chased and hectored Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman inside in the Capitol on January 6. Jensen was wearing a Q-Anon shirt and had a knife in his pocket at the time.

In July, a federal judge granted Jensen pretrial release over the government’s objection. That judge imposed certain conditions on Jensen, one of which was that he could not use devices with access to the internet.

But according to a prosecutors’ filing that was flagged by Buzzfeed on Thursday night, Jensen violated that condition a month after his release.

“A mere thirty days after his release from the D.C. Jail,” said the filing, “defendant Douglas Jensen was found alone, in his garage, using a WiFi-connected iPhone to stream news from Rumble.” As the document notes, Rumble is an alternative to YouTube that is popular among some conservatives.

During a check on Jensen, a court officer arrived at the defendant’s residence and found him watching the video streaming service on his phone. “Jensen eventually admitted to his Pretrial Services Officer that in the previous week, he had spent two days watching Mike Lindell’s Cyber Symposium regarding the recount of the presidential election,” the filing said.

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AP Exam Requires Students To Choose Answers Indicating Voting Laws Are Racially Biased

The College Board has been accused of indoctrinating students in ‘woke’ politics by requiring them to choose an answer on an AP Government exam indicating voter ID discourages black people from voting. 

“Nothing to see here, just an official AP Government practice exam forcing students to falsely say voter ID is racist and urging them to overturn voter ID laws in order to pass the test,” tweeted Sean Davis, co-founder of The Federalist.

The multiple-choice question asks, “Based on the infographic, which of the following claims would an opponent of state voter-ID laws most likely make?”

Students’ options for an answer are as follows:

  • (A) Voter-ID laws are likely to decrease turnout among African American voters because they are less likely to have government-issued IDs.
  • (B) Voter turnout will likely decrease by 10% if voters are required to present a government-issued ID to vote.
  • (C) Voter-ID laws will likely decrease election fraud, which will increase voter confidence in institutions and thereby increase turnout.
  • (D) African American voters who do not have government-issued IDs are likely to participate at the grassroots level and exert influence through channels other than turning out to vote.

Answer A is correct per the test rubric.

The following question on the test asks: “Based on the infographic, which of the following strategies would a group seeking to increase turnout likely pursue?”

Students are expected to select “Lobby state legislatures to overturn voter-ID legislation” in order to be marked with a correct answer.

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EXPOSED: Biden’s UN Racism Inspectors Plan To ‘Restrict’ And Criminalize Free Speech

Joe Biden’s Secretary of State Tony Blinken recently announced that he is inviting United Nations racism inspectors to the United States to conduct a report on American society. Blinken specifically invited Fernand de Varennes, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, and Tendayi Achiume, the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism. NATIONAL FILE has obtained video footage of de Varennes calling for the criminalization of “hate speech” and pushing for censorship by saying that free expression is not absolute. de Varennes even said that “I don’t think it will take that much effort” to pass legislation in the United States holding social media companies liable for supposed hate speech. NATIONAL FILE has also compiled evidence of both Varennes and Achiume bashing President Donald Trump and his supporters, and of Achiume calling for reparations for slavery and for “Migration as Decolonization” in Western countries including the United States of America.

Joe Biden’s Secretary of State Tony Blinken, who headed a Biden project at the University of Pennsylvania that took millions of dollars in anonymous Chinese donations, recently stated: “As the President has repeatedly made clear, great nations such as ours do not hide from our shortcomings; they acknowledge them openly and strive to improve with transparency. It is in this context that the United States intends to issue a formal, standing invitation to all UN experts who report and advise on thematic human rights issues,” he continued. “As a first step, we have reached out to offer an official visit by the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism and the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues.”

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United Nations Greenlights Big Tech Mega-Database To Censor Americans Deemed ‘Extremists’

A Big Tech-led group is using its influence and power to broaden its shared censorship database to curb “extremist content” and collect video and images deemed white supremacist, according to Reuters. The expansion comes after the group “took on renewed urgency” after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, which Democrats and tech giants continue to use as an excuse to justify suppression.

Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and YouTube, tech oligarchs trigger-happy to deplatform political dissidents, founded the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism in 2017 in what they labeled “a new collective effort to prevent the spread of terrorist and violent extremist content online.” Initially, the organization claimed to focus its efforts on rounding up content from terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State and the Taliban as designated by the United Nations, but now the monopolies running GIFCT are using their oligarch power to crack down on dissidents of their elitist agenda.

Just five years after its founding, GIFCT is expanding its database to include “white supremacist” content as determined by the United Nation’s Tech Against Terrorism project and intelligence groups such as Five Eyes. According to Reuters, the database will include “attacker manifestos — often shared by sympathizers after white supremacist violence” as well as links and material from Proud Boys, Three Percenters, and other “neo-Nazi” groups that are identified and then censored or removed by social media platforms.

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