“Parler hits Amazon with antitrust suit over shutdown
Parler asked for an emergency order to reject Amazon’s shutdown of its account, saying it was the equivalent of “pulling the plug on a hospital patient on life support.”
“Parler hit back at Amazon on Monday, filing a lawsuit accusing the tech giant of violating antitrust law by cutting off the conservative-friendly social media site’s presence on the web.
In a complaint filed in federal court in Washington state, Parler said Amazon’s decision was “motivated by political animus” and designed to reduce competition to the benefit of Twitter, which is also a customer of the online retailer’s Amazon Web Services division.
Parler asked for an emergency order to reject Amazon’s shutdown of its account, saying it was the equivalent of “pulling the plug on a hospital patient on life support.”
Amazon “will kill Parler’s business — at the very time it is set to skyrocket,” the complaint said.”
I keep hearing how he’s a right winger, yet he doesn’t sound like one. 🙂
I think he’s mentally ill and just looks for conflicts to show up at.
Jacob Chansley, AKA Jake Angeli, Arizona man makes first court appearance in for charges related to storming the U.S. Capitol. His mom says he hasn’t eaten since Friday because the detention facility won’t feed him all organic food. @abc15pic.twitter.com/doTLFal4At
“While Democratic politicians and the corporate media blamed President Donald Trump for the mob riot at the Capitol on Wednesday, saying his rhetoric incited violence, many of these same lawmakers and bureaucrats have for years called for violence and physical action against those who believe differently than they do.
“Hate to break it to you but if Trump had won, there would have been violence on Wednesday, and it most certainly would have been worse. How do I know? Because Democrats have been endorsing violence as a political tactic throughout the Trump Administration,” wrote Grabien founder Tom Elliott on Twitter.”
Hate to break it to you but if Trump had won, there would have been violence on Wednesday, and it most certainly would have been worse. How do I know? Because Democrats have been endorsing violence as a political tactic throughout the Trump Administration.
“In an extensive thread, Elliott outlined many examples of Democratic politicians and other leftists advocating for violence as a response to conservatives.
In 2018, Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California said on MSNBC that if Trump fired special counsel Robert Mueller, there would be “widespread civil unrest” as people would “take to the streets.”
Similarly, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper agreed that if Trump fired Mueller, it would “set off a firestorm not only on the Hill but also in the streets.”
James Clapper echoed Lieu — and many other Democrats — saying Trump firing Mueller would result in a “firestorm … in the streets” pic.twitter.com/4jpBp9fdha
“Armed protests being planned at all 50 state capitols, FBI bulletin says
An internal FBI note obtained by ABC News shows warnings of “a huge uprising.”
“Starting this week and running through at least Inauguration Day, armed protests are being planned at all 50 state capitols and at the U.S. Capitol, according to an internal FBI bulletin obtained by ABC News.
The FBI has also received information in recent days on a group calling for “storming” state, local and federal government courthouses and administrative buildings in the event President Donald Trump is removed from office prior to Inauguration Day. The group is also planning to “storm” government offices in every state the day President-elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated, regardless of whether the states certified electoral votes for Biden or Trump.
“The FBI received information about an identified armed group intending to travel to Washington, DC on 16 January,” the bulletin read. “They have warned that if Congress attempts to remove POTUS via the 25th Amendment, a huge uprising will occur.”
Federal law enforcement officials have advised police agencies to increase their security posture at statehouses around the country following the riot at the U.S. Capitol, law enforcement sources told ABC News.”
———
Nowhere do they offer any proof of their assertions, just like Russia, Russia, Russia. They lie.
“The state of cities around the country is rapidly declining, leading to the greatest rates of emigration since the days of disorder and distress in the 1970s. Eight cities stand out as the worst run in the country, when ranked with markers like costs of living, education, poverty, and crime. These are New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington, Portland, Oakland and Chicago. Despite billions of dollars doled out annually, every one of these cities has dire mismanagement issues.
Cities that use the most dollars per capita are some of the worst run cities. Washington spends some $15,600 per citizen annually, over 12 times that of cities such as Miami. New York has a budget hole of over $540 million. Debt in many cities is driven mostly by pensions and public payrolls, with New York ranked first with its glaring $64,100 in debt per citizen, Chicago second with $36,000, Philadelphia third with $27,900, San Francisco fifth with $22,600, and Oakland in seventh with $21,100.
As social programs continue to balloon, burdensome taxes on residents and business to fund government initiatives result in exorbitant costs of living. Before the coronavirus, the metro areas of New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, Portland, and Oakland had growing costs of living. Manhattan residents shell out 150 percent more than the national average on food, taxes, housing, and transportation.
Even with billions of dollars meant to fund public education, many cities have failing school systems. The deficiencies are reflected in graduation rates across New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Portland, each below 80 percent. New York spends more than double the national average per pupil at $28,800 annually. Its school system often lets down gifted students, running without an accelerated program in an eighth of its districts. A committee created by Mayor Bill de Blasio recommended ending such programs in efforts to push for diversity.
Many of the worst run cities have ceded more control of academic policy to teachers unions. The results often place administrators above students. Los Angeles schools ground to a halt in 2019 with a strike led by teachers unions, followed by coronavirus blackmail that schools would not reopen until a list of demands from teachers unions were met.
Several of the worst run cities had surging crime before 2020. But such curbing of police has resulted in violent crime spikes that have become out of control. Shootings in New York nearly doubled, murder spiked by 20 percent, and burglary rose by over 40 percent last year. Los Angeles enacted a $150 million cut to its police, as the murder rate increased by 20 percent. The murder rate in Washington rose by almost the same, as Philadelphia boasts the second highest murder rate in the country, and Portland has had the most homicides in three decades.
Imagine a 250-pound boxer being so petrified of a 100-pound woman that he had to get his entire motorcycle gang and the local police department to hold her down while she was unarmed so he could beat her.
Well, if you are having trouble conjuring up such an image, you likely don’t realize that is what is happening to conservatives today.
One would think that with control of nearly every single government agency (regardless of who is president), media, academia, corporate America, Big Tech, Big Science, Big Pharma, and every platform and venue of information flow across the entire internet, leftists wouldn’t feel threatened by the presence of some dissenting views. If the landscape of information flow on politics between the right and the left were two sides of a battlefield, it would be the equivalent of the U.S. military fighting a Rwandan militia. So why does the left feel it must crush every last vestige of conservative news, analysis, and debate even on off-the-beaten-path platforms?
The answer is as troubling as it is obvious. They are fascists. But they are also cowards. Their views are so puerile and fickle that they cannot withstand the scrutiny of a dissenting view that is powered by even one millionth the online presence they already have created. Just as a door opened a crack in a dark room can bring in a disproportionate amount of light, so too the dissemination of self-evident truths against the corrupt ruling elite will completely destroy the lies of the left if it is allowed to coexist with the left, even in such a weak and diminutive presence.
This is why, unlike the totalitarian left, we are not scared of darkness coexisting alongside our light. I’ve written thousands of columns and posted countless videos and audio podcasts passionately making the case for my beliefs on many issues. Never once have I called for anyone espousing views I regard as repugnant and even dangerous to be silenced — and that includes those who supported last year’s rioters.
Thanks to BLM and the anti-policing agenda, thousands of buildings have been burned, thousands of civilians have been attacked in addition to cops, thousands more individuals have fallen victim to homicide, and to this day, rioters are rampaging through residential neighborhoods in the middle of the night. It’s estimated that between $1 and $2 billion in damage was incurred just from May 26 to June 8 of last year.
We have fought their ideas and warned about the consequences, but never have we called on their supporters in politics and media to have their lives destroyed. We debate, expose, debunk, and dispel, but we never attempt to silence. Censorship is the weapon of first resort for authoritarians and cowards, but is not even the weapon of last resort for those confident in the truth of their views.
It’s not the bias of what they do report that makes the media and Big Tech so insidious. It’s what they obfuscate, censor, and remove. If people were to see the extent of the damage BLM has done to this country – and continues to do up to this very day – they would realize that the unprecedented FBI and DHS clampdown on people who attended the rally is not coming from a good place. It’s not coming from a sense of ordered liberty, security, and justice. It’s coming from a sadistic plan to crush and persecute any opposition, for if they truly cared about safety and justice, they would have done this every day last year, beginning on May 26, which was quite literally our night of broken glass.
None of these measures were taken against BLM. The 2020 equivalent of what the corporate-government complex is doing now to all of Trump’s supporters would be censoring anyone who ever supported “police reform” or abolishing the police and criminalizing anyone caught on the ground near where BLM was rioting, even if they were not indicted for a particular crime.
Not only did the most prominent Democrats of our time decline to condemn the rioters, much less the broad movement surrounding them, they offered to help those arrested, who, by definition, weren’t peaceful protesters. None other than incoming Vice President Kamala Harris used Twitter to help fund bail for those “protesting” in Minnesota during the week that they burned down a police station and over 1,500 public and private businesses.”
What kind of nonprofit pays its CEO over 700,000 dollars per year?? I thought nonprofits were supposed to put the money toward the purpose. The purpose was to become the central hub of the Trump resistance. Oh, never mind.
There are definitely going to be right wingers and/or Trump supporters who cross the line and need to be prosecuted. But I fail to see why Trump supporters or conservatives in general or Christians should agree to take the heat for bad actors. And really, there is no need to prosecute crimes that have been ignored all summer by the DOJ and other government agencies just because the vandalism or whatever is now being perpetrated by the disfavored groups. There is nothing meritorious about that. It’s like saying only vandals who are black will be prosecuted. Yes, it’s better if all vandals are prosecuted evenly across the board. But if that isn’t going to happen, then at least for now, we can accept that vandalism isn’t a very important crime. Like going 5 miles an hr over the speed limit. If that’s going to be the new normal for awhile, I can adapt to that. Not that I will like it or advocate that others participate, but it is not nearly as scandalous to see. Unpleasant, but not shocking. And I certainly have no guilt over it, and neither does the President.
While reporting on the violent protests of last summer, left winger Chris Cuomo, the NY governor’s brother, looked into the television screen and with a straight face declared: “Who said protests have to be peaceful. There’s no reason a protest has to be peaceful.” And for now, it appears he’s right.
Atlanta needs to be on that cities list. Crime is so much worse and people are moving out. I wish it could have been the black utopia they hoped for where they no longer needed police because community centers gave other options besides crime as a way of life. I truly wish that could work . . . but there is nothing new under the sun.
You can’t make this stuff up. They let the nuts run the asylum.
UPDATE: Jacob Chansley (AKA Jake Angeli or QAnon Shaman) will be fed organic food, in line with his strict shaman diet, while in federal custody. "We will abide by the judge's order," U.S. Marshal David Gonzales said. @abc15https://t.co/k6mxwQeofM
I just received a positive COVID-19 test result after being locked down in a secured room at the Capitol where several Republicans not only cruelly refused to wear a mask but recklessly mocked colleagues and staff who offered them one.https://t.co/wVmgroKsdf
Blame Nancy. She put you all at risk to get re-elected Speaker.
Own that @#$% you stinking liar.
Covid-19 is being passed around The House of Representatives like herpies at a frat party, not because a-symptomatic reps didn’t wear masks but because symptomatic ones exposed you all.
I haven’t had time to read the comments, and not sure when I will today, but want to share this:
“Parler Supporters Shout Censorship, But Check Out What Was Actually Being Allowed On Its Platform”
Some of the posts from Parler (more in the article):
“It would be a pity if someone with explosives training were to pay a visit to AWS data centers – the locations of which are public knowledge” …
“On Janurary […]th we need to start systematically assassinating #liberal leaders, liberal activists, #blm leaders and supporters, members of the #nba #nfl #mlb #nhl #mainstream media anchors and correspondents and #antifa. I already have a news worthy event planned … ” …
“It’s coming we are coming with our list we know where you live we know who you are we are coming for you and it starts on the 6th civil war 2 is on the arise and it’s coming with Hell and death!” …
“ECHO IF YOU WANT TO KILL JEFF BEZOS …” …
“… today President Trump told Us to “fight like hell” He said that … these people … must be arrested and brought to justice. And that task, falls on the shoulders of We the People … the American Patriots. So over the next 24 hours, I’d say, let’s get our personal affairs in order. Prepare our weapons, and then go get’em. Lets hunt these cowards down like the Traitors that each of them are. This includes RINOs, Dems, and Tech Execs. We now have the greenlight. [All] who resist Us, are enemies of Our Constitution, and must be treated as such … It wasn’t the building that We wanted … it was them!”
~ The United States, I hope and pray, has many more years ahead of it. Wednesday had its own casualty count: Five dead, the Capitol overrun, our debacle supplying propaganda points for the latest Chinese Communist crackdown on Hong Kong (Look where democracy leads). But the fire next time could be far worse, unless Wednesday pushes us to reflect and pray.
Christians have a special opportunity to oppose those “unwise and unworthy passions” of which Jefferson spoke. Christians, especially when reacting to ridicule, can be swept up in the passions of others. But we belong to a faithful Savior who instructed us to turn the other cheek. We know that politics are not ultimate. If Wednesday’s events remind us of the need to cool and not inflame, maybe they’re what we needed. ~
Wednesday’s warning
How do we make peace after deadly unrest?
Janice – My first thought on it was similar to yours. But I guess the crux of the matter is that Parler is allowing those posts, whereas other social media would have deleted them and then probably blocked the ones who posted them, or at least suspended their accounts for a while. I do think, though, that perhaps the app platforms could have given Parler a warning, and urged them to draw a line between free speech and violent, inciteful speech.
~ Can anything good come out of Wednesday’s mob action in the Capitol? Only if we do our best to minimize the possibility of something far worse happening. ~
AJ – The reason Jake Angeli has been mentioned so much is because initially he was fingered as Antifa, so people were pointing out that no, he isn’t Antifa.
I believe Parler, because it was new but also because it promoted less restrictive speech, had some issues also with porn being posted there. Sounds like they have no where near the infrastructure to follow every post — and perhaps do not necessarily want to have a site that becomes overbearing in what people can or can’t say. The whole point of Parler was a freer and more open platform, which now has brought up that age-old balancing act of weighing the free part of free speech and when it crosses the line.
I agree with a warning.
And posts inciting violence clearly need to somehow be monitored and taken down. Porn, too, of course.
They wound up caught in the middle of this season’s firestorm, however, so not sure what their future is, right or wrong.
Janice (2:11) and that’s the inherent danger of joining with some of these mass, highly politicized gatherings, it is usually pretty predictable that many more wind up getting swept into the bad behavior (or at least linked to it). Especially cringe-worthy when you see Jesus flags being carried. Ouch.
Christians especially need to beware of these “events.” I remember a Christian mentor years ago cautioning me about getting entangled in these protests that too often become ‘mobs’ committing violence and crossing the lines (though her frame of reference was from the peace and justice movements in the 1970s that appealed to many Christians).
Same principle though. I’ve always remembered her words and still think they’re incredibly wise.
+++++++++++++++
OK, I had to laugh at this one regarding the guy who was carrying off the podium and how his lawyer is struggling to represent him (comes from a video):
_______________________
“You have a photograph of our client in a building, unauthorized to be there, with what appears to be a podium or a lectern, I’m not exactly sure which one it is called. But that’s what we have,” Eckhart said.
A reporter can be heard saying to Eckhart that the photo “obviously” presents a problem for him as a defense attorney.
“I don’t know how else to explain that, but yeah, that would be a problem,” Eckhart said. “I’m not a magician, and neither is Mr. Bigney. So yeah, we have a photograph of our client, who appears to be in a federal building or inside the Capitol with government property.”
________________________
I’ll say here the only ‘protest’ I even vaguely attended was as a sophomore in college (following the Kent State shootings). It was suggested / promoted by our political science/history professors earlier that day.
I stood way, way on the outside perimeter and left early. I found the whole activity somehow very uncomfortable and foreboding. And sure enough, there were police staged in the college parking lot.
Mumsee – You wrote, “It happened with the BLM riots,following the peaceful protests. The difference? We are calling out the bad guys. They didn’t.”
Actually, many of them did. There were stories of protesters trying to stop the the rioters, and people did speak out about the violence and destruction. I remember a video in which a young black woman was very upset because she knew that the destructive ones were going to make her and the peaceful ones look bad.
But we are in different social circles, so to speak. For instance, conservatives are going to be more exposed to other conservatives and what they have to say, good or bad, and liberals are more exposed to fellow liberals and what they have to say, good or bad.
There’s plenty out their I consider hateful, false, and disgusting. But they still have the right to say it, regardless of how it offends me. It’s a 2 way street, you take the good and bad. This is fascist BS.
Kizzie, yes the run of the mill masses understood. The politicians didn’t call out the people. In this case, Republican politicians have called them out and want them dealt with. In the BLM cases the Dem politicians (Harris) were bailing them out.
Remember how the run of the mill Muslim does not publically condemn the Muslim terrorist groups? Fear makes them afraid to speak out. I think the same principle is going on with the silent portion of moderates on the left. That is the difference with the fringe on the right. Typically they don’t target the more gentle people on their side of the fence (except those who were threatening VP Pence). There is a lot to feel pity over for those on the left from my point of view, a deplorable Southerner.
Free speech does come with some legal limits, it should be noted.
Specifically:
Freedom of speech does not include the right:
To incite actions that would harm others (e.g., “[S]hout[ing] ‘fire’ in a crowded theater.”).
Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919).
To make or distribute obscene materials.
Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476 (1957).
To burn draft cards as an anti-war protest.
United States v. O’Brien, 391 U.S. 367 (1968).
To permit students to print articles in a school newspaper over the objections of the school administration.
Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 260 (1988).
Of students to make an obscene speech at a school-sponsored event.
Bethel School District #43 v. Fraser, 478 U.S. 675 (1986).
Of students to advocate illegal drug use at a school-sponsored event.
Morse v. Frederick, __ U.S. __ (2007).
Here’s the thing. I signed up for MeWe…I didn’t like it. I joined some very “safe” groups…Christian bookclub, Christian Moms, Primitive Decorating site, Classic book site. I clicked on my Christian bookclub page and there was a link to porn that had been there for hours as I observed the posting time. There was no oversight on that page by an admin….I simply stated that it was ridiculous and that I was leaving….I had that right…if I didn’t like it I could leave….same as Parler…if you don’t like it…leave. Of course I only followed Bongino, DL Harris, Nunes, and Kevin Thomas who is known as The Log Whisperer…he lives in TN…a follower of Christ…and he builds log homes….
A friend sent this off of a social media post:
WELL SAID MR. SPEAKER
This pretty much hits the nail on the head. Very well-written and worth the short read.
by Newt Gingrich
“A smart friend of mine who is a moderate liberal asked why I was not recognizing Joe Biden’s victory.
The friend made the case that Biden had gotten more votes, and historically we recognize the person with the most votes. Normally, we accept the outcome of elections just as we accept
the outcomes of sporting events.
So, my friend asked why was 2020 different?
Having spent more than four years watching the left
#Resist President Donald Trump and focus entirely on undoing and undermining the 2016 election, it took me several days to understand the depth of my own feelings.
As I thought about it, I realized my anger and fear were not narrowly focused on votes. My unwillingness to relax and accept that the election was over grew out of a level of outrage
and alienation unlike anything I had experienced in more than 60 years involvement in public affairs.
The challenge is that I – and other conservatives – are not disagreeing with the left within a commonly understood world. We live in alternative worlds.
The left’s world is mostly the established world of the forces who have been dominant for most of my life.
My world is the populist rebellion which believes we are being destroyed, our liberties are being cancelled, and our religions are under assault. (Note the new Human Rights Campaign
to decertify any religious school which does not accept secular sexual values – and that many Democrat governors have kept casinos open while closing churches though the COVID-19 pandemic.) We also believe other Democrat-led COVID-19 policies have enriched
the wealthy while crushing middle class small business owners (some 160,000 restaurants may close).
In this context, let’s talk first about the recent past and the presidency.
In 2016, I supported an outsider candidate, who was rough around the edges and in the Andrew Jackson school of controversial assaults on the old order. When my candidate won, it was
blamed on the Russians. We now know (four years later) Hillary Clinton’s own team financed the total lie that fueled this attack. Members of the FBI twice engaged in criminal acts to help it along – once in avoiding prosecution of someone who had deleted 33,000
emails and had a subordinate use a hammer to physically destroy hard drives, and a second time by lying to FISA judges to destroy General Michael Flynn and spy on then-candidate Donald Trump and his team. The national liberal media aided and abetted every
step of the way. All this was purely an attempt to cripple the new president and lead to the appointment of a special counsel – who ultimately produced nothing.
Now, people in my world are told it is time to stop resisting and cooperate with the new president. But we remember that the Democrats wanted to cooperate with Trump so much that they
began talking about his impeachment before he even took office. The Washington Post ran a story on Democrat impeachment plots the day of the Inauguration. In fact, nearly 70 Democratic lawmakers boycotted his inauguration. A massive leftwing demonstration
was staged in Washington the day after, where Madonna announced she dreamed of blowing up the White House to widespread applause. These same forces want me to cooperate with their new president. I find myself adopting the Nancy Pelosi model of constant resistance.
Nothing I have seen from Biden since the election offers me any hope that he will reach out to the more than 74 million Americans who voted for President Trump.
So, I am not reacting to the votes so much as to the whole election environment.
When Twitter and Facebook censored the oldest and fourth largest newspaper (founded by Alexander Hamilton) because it accurately reported news that could hurt Biden’s chances – where
were The New York Times and The Washington Post?
The truth of the Hunter Biden story is now becoming impossible to avoid or conceal. The family of the Democrat nominee for president received at least $5 million from an entity controlled
by our greatest adversary. It was a blatant payoff, and most Americans who voted for Biden never heard of it – or were told before the election it was Russian disinformation. Once they did hear of it, 17% said they would have switched their votes, according
to a poll by the Media Research Center. That’s the entire election. The censorship worked exactly as intended.
Typically, newspapers and media outlets band together when press freedom is threatened by censorship. Where was the sanctimonious ‘democracy dies in darkness’?
Tragically, The Washington Post is now part of the darkness.
But this is just a start. When Twitter censors four of five Rush Limbaugh tweets in one day, I fear for the country
When these monolithic internet giants censor the President of the United States, I fear for the country.
When I see elite billionaires like Mark Zuckerburg are able to spend $400 million to hire city governments to maximize turnout in specifically Democratic districts – without any regard
to election spending laws or good governance standards – I fear for the country.
When I read that Apple has a firm rule of never irritating China – and I watch the NBA kowtow to Beijing, I fear for our country.
When I watch story after story about election fraud being spiked – without even the appearance of journalistic due diligence or curiosity – I know something is sick.
The election process itself was the final straw in creating the crisis of confidence which is accelerating and deepening for many millions of Americans.
Aside from a constant stream of allegations of outright fraud, there are some specific outrages – any one of which was likely enough to swing the entire election.
Officials in virtually every swing state broke their states’ own laws to send out millions of ballots or ballot applications to every registered voter. It was all clearly documented
in the Texas lawsuit, which was declined by the US Supreme Court based on Texas’ procedural standing – not the merits of the case. That’s the election.
In addition, it’s clear that virtually every swing state essentially suspended normal requirements for verifying absentee ballots. Rejection rates were an order of magnitude lower than
in a normal year. In Georgia, rejection rates dropped from 6.5% in 2016 to 0.2% in 2020. In Pennsylvania, it went from 1% in 2016 to .003% in 2020. Nevada fell from 1.6% to .75%. There is no plausible explanation other than that they were counting a huge number
of ballots – disproportionately for Biden – that normally would not have passed muster. That’s the election.
The entire elite liberal media lied about the timeline of the C0VlD-19 vaccine. They blamed President Trump for the global pandemic even as he did literally everything top scientists
instructed. In multiple debates, the moderators outright stated that he was lying about the US having a vaccine before the end of the year (note Vice President Mike Pence received it this week). If Americans had known the pandemic was almost over, that too
was likely the difference in the election.
The unanimously never-Trump debate commission spiked the second debate at a critical time in order to hurt President Trump. If there had been one more debate like the final one, it likely
would have been pivotal.
This is just the beginning. But any one of those things alone is enough for Trump supporters to think we have been robbed by a ruthless establishment – which is likely to only get more
corrupt and aggressive if it gets away with these blatant acts.
For more than four years, the entire establishment mobilized against the elected President of the United States as though they were an immune system trying to kill a virus. Now, they
are telling us we are undermining democracy.
You have more than 74 million voters who supported President Trump despite everything – and given the election mess, the number could easily be significantly higher. The truth is tens
of millions of Americans are deeply alienated and angry.
If Biden governs from the left – and he will almost certainly be forced to – that number will grow rapidly, and we will win a massive election in 2022.
Given this environment, I have no interest in legitimizing the father of a son who Chinese Communist Party members boast about buying. Nor do I have any interest in pretending that the
current result is legitimate or honorable. It is simply the final stroke of a four-year establishment-media power grab. It has been perpetrated by people who have broken the law, cheated the country of information, and smeared those of us who believe in America
over China, history over revisionism, and the liberal ideal of free expression over cancel culture.
I write this in genuine sorrow, because I think we are headed toward a serious, bitter struggle in America. This extraordinary, coordinated four-year power grab threatens the fabric
of our country and the freedom of every American.”
NancyJill, I think it’s more than “If you don’t like it, leave.” Let’s say your husband is a politician, and you see people on there threatening his life or threatening to bomb the building where he works. You can “leave,” but that won’t really solve the problem.
Locally, a couple of public areas have become camping grounds for the homeless. One area is a public park. Another is technically private property, but the business no longer uses it and it is next to a public area (the trail Michelle and I walked on when she visited me). If I walk that trail now, I walk the branch on the far side, away from dozens of tents of homeless people, and people stay out of the park because it isn’t sanitary or safe. But it also isn’t right simply to let people do whatever they want, at any level of threat to the public health.
On Flickr, pornographic photos are allowed, but you’re supposed to mark them accordingly. All the photos I post are marked “safe,” and my account is also set up only to show “safe” photos. If a photo comes up somewhere that isn’t marked “safe,” on anything I see it just shows up as pixellated gray. If I want to see it, I can (I don’t, of course), but it doesn’t automatically come up in my feed. And if a nude photo comes up that is marked “safe,” I can report it. Some sort of safeguard of the sort needs to be in place. If people are threatening to kill other people, no site should allow that–there needs to be a way to report it. If people are planning to protest and assert their second-amendment rights, police might know to be present to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand, but the protest itself is legal. But there needs to be a way to reject content that threatens people.
I don’t think the site should have been simply shut down, but I do think the public square isn’t well served by allowing public drug use, camping, and defecation–or the internet equivalent. Unfortunately, anarchy does invite totalitarian control. Self-policing is far wiser.
Re: parler
I have said that i could be a Libertarian if i had faith on my fellow man. As the populace moves further away from the gospel. So will the actions they allow as right and good. When there are no laws or personal restraint, chaos will reign. I could see the problems coming. I don’t know what the answer is. I wish we could just rely on people to self regulate….
And democracy actually is quite fragile, a delicate balancing act that is easy to tilt and disrupt — and even to dismantle if conditions become too chaotic. Anarchy to tyranny.
AJ – As I said to Janice, I do think Parler should have been given a warning first, and time to deal with the violent and pornographic posts. Although I do believe strongly in the concept of free speech, there is a limit, as Cheryl pointed out.
Repeating Olasky’s comment: ~ Can anything good come out of Wednesday’s mob action in the Capitol? Only if we do our best to minimize the possibility of something far worse happening. ~
Kizzie, I’m pretty sure parler was given a warning. At least I had heard they had been given 24 hours to come up with a plan (how detailed it had to be, I don’t know, or whether they made any attempt to do so). It was a day or two after I heard they had been given a day to submit a plan that I heard they were shut down. I don’t work in such areas and have no idea whether 24 hours was anything close to adequate, or whether parler made any attempt in that direction.. But it doesn’t seem that they were simply shut down with no warning.
I’ve seen the administrator interviewed and it seems to me the problem was the quick turnaround timing combined with their not being set up with enough staff infrastructure to handle the task at hand.
We just returned from small group and it was sweet…no one spoke of politics at all…we all just prayed and studied the Word.
Cheryl I should have specified to what I was referring…I was talking about a comment that was made about porn being allowed on Parler. If someone on any social media site is threatening the life of another I whole heartedly believe that should be addressed and or even investigated.
To incite actions that would harm others (e.g., “[S]hout[ing] ‘fire’ in a crowded theater.”).
Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919).
On this we agree
——
To make or distribute obscene materials.
Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476 (1957).
Where you been? It’s everywhere, and just clicks away. Even easily available in the schools you mention below as well, in many cases as part of the ciriculum.
——
To burn draft cards as an anti-war protest.
United States v. O’Brien, 391 U.S. 367 (1968).
And yet…. the 60’s
——
To permit students to print articles in a school newspaper over the objections of the school administration.
Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 260 (1988).
That’s more of a kid’s rights vs parents and schools type case, not really about free speech.
———–
Of students to make an obscene speech at a school-sponsored event.
Bethel School District #43 v. Fraser, 478 U.S. 675 (1986).
Agree.
——-
Of students to advocate illegal drug use at a school-sponsored event.
Morse v. Frederick, __ U.S. __ (2007).”
Wandering Views 
Good.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/11/parler-amazon-antitrust-suit-457579
“Parler hits Amazon with antitrust suit over shutdown
Parler asked for an emergency order to reject Amazon’s shutdown of its account, saying it was the equivalent of “pulling the plug on a hospital patient on life support.”
“Parler hit back at Amazon on Monday, filing a lawsuit accusing the tech giant of violating antitrust law by cutting off the conservative-friendly social media site’s presence on the web.
In a complaint filed in federal court in Washington state, Parler said Amazon’s decision was “motivated by political animus” and designed to reduce competition to the benefit of Twitter, which is also a customer of the online retailer’s Amazon Web Services division.
Parler asked for an emergency order to reject Amazon’s shutdown of its account, saying it was the equivalent of “pulling the plug on a hospital patient on life support.”
Amazon “will kill Parler’s business — at the very time it is set to skyrocket,” the complaint said.”
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Even leftists who don’t benefit politically are calling foul on the censorship. First it was Mexico socialist president, now it’s Merkel.
https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1348656386905952260
———–
https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1348660782926540800
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I keep hearing how he’s a right winger, yet he doesn’t sound like one. 🙂
I think he’s mentally ill and just looks for conflicts to show up at.
———–
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Just a reminder……
“10 Times Democrats Urged Violence Against Trump And His Supporters”
https://thefederalist.com/2021/01/08/10-times-democrats-urged-violence-against-trump-and-his-supporters/
“While Democratic politicians and the corporate media blamed President Donald Trump for the mob riot at the Capitol on Wednesday, saying his rhetoric incited violence, many of these same lawmakers and bureaucrats have for years called for violence and physical action against those who believe differently than they do.
“Hate to break it to you but if Trump had won, there would have been violence on Wednesday, and it most certainly would have been worse. How do I know? Because Democrats have been endorsing violence as a political tactic throughout the Trump Administration,” wrote Grabien founder Tom Elliott on Twitter.”
“In an extensive thread, Elliott outlined many examples of Democratic politicians and other leftists advocating for violence as a response to conservatives.
In 2018, Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California said on MSNBC that if Trump fired special counsel Robert Mueller, there would be “widespread civil unrest” as people would “take to the streets.”
Similarly, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper agreed that if Trump fired Mueller, it would “set off a firestorm not only on the Hill but also in the streets.”
——-
And many more…..
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Where’s the beef/proof?
I’m no longer taking the FBI at it’s word. They’re known liars. Show some proof.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/armed-protests-planned-50-state-capitols-fbi-bulletin/story?id=75179771
“Armed protests being planned at all 50 state capitols, FBI bulletin says
An internal FBI note obtained by ABC News shows warnings of “a huge uprising.”
“Starting this week and running through at least Inauguration Day, armed protests are being planned at all 50 state capitols and at the U.S. Capitol, according to an internal FBI bulletin obtained by ABC News.
The FBI has also received information in recent days on a group calling for “storming” state, local and federal government courthouses and administrative buildings in the event President Donald Trump is removed from office prior to Inauguration Day. The group is also planning to “storm” government offices in every state the day President-elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated, regardless of whether the states certified electoral votes for Biden or Trump.
“The FBI received information about an identified armed group intending to travel to Washington, DC on 16 January,” the bulletin read. “They have warned that if Congress attempts to remove POTUS via the 25th Amendment, a huge uprising will occur.”
Federal law enforcement officials have advised police agencies to increase their security posture at statehouses around the country following the riot at the U.S. Capitol, law enforcement sources told ABC News.”
———
Nowhere do they offer any proof of their assertions, just like Russia, Russia, Russia. They lie.
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Drum roll please…..
The worst run cities in the US are…….
All @#$%holes, run by Democrats.
Coming soon to the rest of the country.
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/533365-the-worst-run-cities-in-america
“The state of cities around the country is rapidly declining, leading to the greatest rates of emigration since the days of disorder and distress in the 1970s. Eight cities stand out as the worst run in the country, when ranked with markers like costs of living, education, poverty, and crime. These are New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington, Portland, Oakland and Chicago. Despite billions of dollars doled out annually, every one of these cities has dire mismanagement issues.
Cities that use the most dollars per capita are some of the worst run cities. Washington spends some $15,600 per citizen annually, over 12 times that of cities such as Miami. New York has a budget hole of over $540 million. Debt in many cities is driven mostly by pensions and public payrolls, with New York ranked first with its glaring $64,100 in debt per citizen, Chicago second with $36,000, Philadelphia third with $27,900, San Francisco fifth with $22,600, and Oakland in seventh with $21,100.
As social programs continue to balloon, burdensome taxes on residents and business to fund government initiatives result in exorbitant costs of living. Before the coronavirus, the metro areas of New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, Portland, and Oakland had growing costs of living. Manhattan residents shell out 150 percent more than the national average on food, taxes, housing, and transportation.
Even with billions of dollars meant to fund public education, many cities have failing school systems. The deficiencies are reflected in graduation rates across New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Portland, each below 80 percent. New York spends more than double the national average per pupil at $28,800 annually. Its school system often lets down gifted students, running without an accelerated program in an eighth of its districts. A committee created by Mayor Bill de Blasio recommended ending such programs in efforts to push for diversity.
Many of the worst run cities have ceded more control of academic policy to teachers unions. The results often place administrators above students. Los Angeles schools ground to a halt in 2019 with a strike led by teachers unions, followed by coronavirus blackmail that schools would not reopen until a list of demands from teachers unions were met.
Several of the worst run cities had surging crime before 2020. But such curbing of police has resulted in violent crime spikes that have become out of control. Shootings in New York nearly doubled, murder spiked by 20 percent, and burglary rose by over 40 percent last year. Los Angeles enacted a $150 million cut to its police, as the murder rate increased by 20 percent. The murder rate in Washington rose by almost the same, as Philadelphia boasts the second highest murder rate in the country, and Portland has had the most homicides in three decades.
Local mismanagement has also led to poverty.”
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They. Are. Fascist. Cowards.
https://www.theblaze.com/op-ed/horowitz-the-question-everyone-should-be-asking-about-the-big-tech-fascist-purge-of-conservatives
“What are they afraid of?
Imagine a 250-pound boxer being so petrified of a 100-pound woman that he had to get his entire motorcycle gang and the local police department to hold her down while she was unarmed so he could beat her.
Well, if you are having trouble conjuring up such an image, you likely don’t realize that is what is happening to conservatives today.
One would think that with control of nearly every single government agency (regardless of who is president), media, academia, corporate America, Big Tech, Big Science, Big Pharma, and every platform and venue of information flow across the entire internet, leftists wouldn’t feel threatened by the presence of some dissenting views. If the landscape of information flow on politics between the right and the left were two sides of a battlefield, it would be the equivalent of the U.S. military fighting a Rwandan militia. So why does the left feel it must crush every last vestige of conservative news, analysis, and debate even on off-the-beaten-path platforms?
The answer is as troubling as it is obvious. They are fascists. But they are also cowards. Their views are so puerile and fickle that they cannot withstand the scrutiny of a dissenting view that is powered by even one millionth the online presence they already have created. Just as a door opened a crack in a dark room can bring in a disproportionate amount of light, so too the dissemination of self-evident truths against the corrupt ruling elite will completely destroy the lies of the left if it is allowed to coexist with the left, even in such a weak and diminutive presence.
This is why, unlike the totalitarian left, we are not scared of darkness coexisting alongside our light. I’ve written thousands of columns and posted countless videos and audio podcasts passionately making the case for my beliefs on many issues. Never once have I called for anyone espousing views I regard as repugnant and even dangerous to be silenced — and that includes those who supported last year’s rioters.
Thanks to BLM and the anti-policing agenda, thousands of buildings have been burned, thousands of civilians have been attacked in addition to cops, thousands more individuals have fallen victim to homicide, and to this day, rioters are rampaging through residential neighborhoods in the middle of the night. It’s estimated that between $1 and $2 billion in damage was incurred just from May 26 to June 8 of last year.
We have fought their ideas and warned about the consequences, but never have we called on their supporters in politics and media to have their lives destroyed. We debate, expose, debunk, and dispel, but we never attempt to silence. Censorship is the weapon of first resort for authoritarians and cowards, but is not even the weapon of last resort for those confident in the truth of their views.
It’s not the bias of what they do report that makes the media and Big Tech so insidious. It’s what they obfuscate, censor, and remove. If people were to see the extent of the damage BLM has done to this country – and continues to do up to this very day – they would realize that the unprecedented FBI and DHS clampdown on people who attended the rally is not coming from a good place. It’s not coming from a sense of ordered liberty, security, and justice. It’s coming from a sadistic plan to crush and persecute any opposition, for if they truly cared about safety and justice, they would have done this every day last year, beginning on May 26, which was quite literally our night of broken glass.
None of these measures were taken against BLM. The 2020 equivalent of what the corporate-government complex is doing now to all of Trump’s supporters would be censoring anyone who ever supported “police reform” or abolishing the police and criminalizing anyone caught on the ground near where BLM was rioting, even if they were not indicted for a particular crime.
Not only did the most prominent Democrats of our time decline to condemn the rioters, much less the broad movement surrounding them, they offered to help those arrested, who, by definition, weren’t peaceful protesters. None other than incoming Vice President Kamala Harris used Twitter to help fund bail for those “protesting” in Minnesota during the week that they burned down a police station and over 1,500 public and private businesses.”
————
But Orange Man Bad…..
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What kind of nonprofit pays its CEO over 700,000 dollars per year?? I thought nonprofits were supposed to put the money toward the purpose. The purpose was to become the central hub of the Trump resistance. Oh, never mind.
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There are definitely going to be right wingers and/or Trump supporters who cross the line and need to be prosecuted. But I fail to see why Trump supporters or conservatives in general or Christians should agree to take the heat for bad actors. And really, there is no need to prosecute crimes that have been ignored all summer by the DOJ and other government agencies just because the vandalism or whatever is now being perpetrated by the disfavored groups. There is nothing meritorious about that. It’s like saying only vandals who are black will be prosecuted. Yes, it’s better if all vandals are prosecuted evenly across the board. But if that isn’t going to happen, then at least for now, we can accept that vandalism isn’t a very important crime. Like going 5 miles an hr over the speed limit. If that’s going to be the new normal for awhile, I can adapt to that. Not that I will like it or advocate that others participate, but it is not nearly as scandalous to see. Unpleasant, but not shocking. And I certainly have no guilt over it, and neither does the President.
While reporting on the violent protests of last summer, left winger Chris Cuomo, the NY governor’s brother, looked into the television screen and with a straight face declared: “Who said protests have to be peaceful. There’s no reason a protest has to be peaceful.” And for now, it appears he’s right.
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Atlanta needs to be on that cities list. Crime is so much worse and people are moving out. I wish it could have been the black utopia they hoped for where they no longer needed police because community centers gave other options besides crime as a way of life. I truly wish that could work . . . but there is nothing new under the sun.
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You can’t make this stuff up. They let the nuts run the asylum.
————
https://twitter.com/JodyBeeler/status/1348807822595690497
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Another day, another lying Democrat stooge.
———-
Liar.
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Blame Nancy. She put you all at risk to get re-elected Speaker.
Own that @#$% you stinking liar.
———-
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https://aclj.org/tune-in-to-our-live-radio-shows
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I am not sure why I hear no sound on the video. It is on Facebook Live for the moment.
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I haven’t had time to read the comments, and not sure when I will today, but want to share this:
“Parler Supporters Shout Censorship, But Check Out What Was Actually Being Allowed On Its Platform”
Some of the posts from Parler (more in the article):
“It would be a pity if someone with explosives training were to pay a visit to AWS data centers – the locations of which are public knowledge” …
“On Janurary […]th we need to start systematically assassinating #liberal leaders, liberal activists, #blm leaders and supporters, members of the #nba #nfl #mlb #nhl #mainstream media anchors and correspondents and #antifa. I already have a news worthy event planned … ” …
“It’s coming we are coming with our list we know where you live we know who you are we are coming for you and it starts on the 6th civil war 2 is on the arise and it’s coming with Hell and death!” …
“ECHO IF YOU WANT TO KILL JEFF BEZOS …” …
“… today President Trump told Us to “fight like hell” He said that … these people … must be arrested and brought to justice. And that task, falls on the shoulders of We the People … the American Patriots. So over the next 24 hours, I’d say, let’s get our personal affairs in order. Prepare our weapons, and then go get’em. Lets hunt these cowards down like the Traitors that each of them are. This includes RINOs, Dems, and Tech Execs. We now have the greenlight. [All] who resist Us, are enemies of Our Constitution, and must be treated as such … It wasn’t the building that We wanted … it was them!”
https://www.mediaite.com/news/parler-supporters-shout-censorship-but-check-out-what-was-actually-being-allowed-on-the-platform/?fbclid=IwAR14Zf_TkLDmQcWZAXNnaEet7Kmt-SRJmMbQqAPnKPNPdqztefsxhiq_oLk
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Kizzie, did they need to cancel everyone?
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Olasky:
~ The United States, I hope and pray, has many more years ahead of it. Wednesday had its own casualty count: Five dead, the Capitol overrun, our debacle supplying propaganda points for the latest Chinese Communist crackdown on Hong Kong (Look where democracy leads). But the fire next time could be far worse, unless Wednesday pushes us to reflect and pray.
Christians have a special opportunity to oppose those “unwise and unworthy passions” of which Jefferson spoke. Christians, especially when reacting to ridicule, can be swept up in the passions of others. But we belong to a faithful Savior who instructed us to turn the other cheek. We know that politics are not ultimate. If Wednesday’s events remind us of the need to cool and not inflame, maybe they’re what we needed. ~
Wednesday’s warning
How do we make peace after deadly unrest?
https://world.wng.org/2021/01/wednesday_s_warning
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Janice – My first thought on it was similar to yours. But I guess the crux of the matter is that Parler is allowing those posts, whereas other social media would have deleted them and then probably blocked the ones who posted them, or at least suspended their accounts for a while. I do think, though, that perhaps the app platforms could have given Parler a warning, and urged them to draw a line between free speech and violent, inciteful speech.
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Olasky’s upshot:
~ Can anything good come out of Wednesday’s mob action in the Capitol? Only if we do our best to minimize the possibility of something far worse happening. ~
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AJ – The reason Jake Angeli has been mentioned so much is because initially he was fingered as Antifa, so people were pointing out that no, he isn’t Antifa.
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I believe Parler, because it was new but also because it promoted less restrictive speech, had some issues also with porn being posted there. Sounds like they have no where near the infrastructure to follow every post — and perhaps do not necessarily want to have a site that becomes overbearing in what people can or can’t say. The whole point of Parler was a freer and more open platform, which now has brought up that age-old balancing act of weighing the free part of free speech and when it crosses the line.
I agree with a warning.
And posts inciting violence clearly need to somehow be monitored and taken down. Porn, too, of course.
They wound up caught in the middle of this season’s firestorm, however, so not sure what their future is, right or wrong.
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Too often the masses are being conveniently confused for the fringe with labels, punishment, and silencing or cancelling for being good citizens.
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It happened with the BLM riots,following the peaceful protests. The difference? We are calling out the bad guys. They didn’t.
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Janice (2:11) and that’s the inherent danger of joining with some of these mass, highly politicized gatherings, it is usually pretty predictable that many more wind up getting swept into the bad behavior (or at least linked to it). Especially cringe-worthy when you see Jesus flags being carried. Ouch.
Christians especially need to beware of these “events.” I remember a Christian mentor years ago cautioning me about getting entangled in these protests that too often become ‘mobs’ committing violence and crossing the lines (though her frame of reference was from the peace and justice movements in the 1970s that appealed to many Christians).
Same principle though. I’ve always remembered her words and still think they’re incredibly wise.
+++++++++++++++
OK, I had to laugh at this one regarding the guy who was carrying off the podium and how his lawyer is struggling to represent him (comes from a video):
_______________________
“You have a photograph of our client in a building, unauthorized to be there, with what appears to be a podium or a lectern, I’m not exactly sure which one it is called. But that’s what we have,” Eckhart said.
A reporter can be heard saying to Eckhart that the photo “obviously” presents a problem for him as a defense attorney.
“I don’t know how else to explain that, but yeah, that would be a problem,” Eckhart said. “I’m not a magician, and neither is Mr. Bigney. So yeah, we have a photograph of our client, who appears to be in a federal building or inside the Capitol with government property.”
________________________
https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-man-capitol-riot-pelosi-lectern-viral-photo-lawyer
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I think the broad brush approach for protests that go bad is common on both sides.
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At least always leave when you see a guy with a fur cap and horns and hear glass breaking.
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I’ll say here the only ‘protest’ I even vaguely attended was as a sophomore in college (following the Kent State shootings). It was suggested / promoted by our political science/history professors earlier that day.
I stood way, way on the outside perimeter and left early. I found the whole activity somehow very uncomfortable and foreboding. And sure enough, there were police staged in the college parking lot.
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I have been to prayer rally’s at the Georgia state capitol.
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rallys
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The only protest I was involved with was against the Daily Bruin.
The reporters and editors fled the office and watched from the top of Kerkoff Hall.
The group was angry we did not editorialize for them and against the administration.
It was very uncomfortable to be threatened by people who didn’t know us.
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Some of the media had some uncomfortable moments, too, last Wednesday with their cameras being grabbed and pushed over.
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Mumsee – You wrote, “It happened with the BLM riots,following the peaceful protests. The difference? We are calling out the bad guys. They didn’t.”
Actually, many of them did. There were stories of protesters trying to stop the the rioters, and people did speak out about the violence and destruction. I remember a video in which a young black woman was very upset because she knew that the destructive ones were going to make her and the peaceful ones look bad.
But we are in different social circles, so to speak. For instance, conservatives are going to be more exposed to other conservatives and what they have to say, good or bad, and liberals are more exposed to fellow liberals and what they have to say, good or bad.
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Kizzie,
It’s called free speech. Deal with it.
There’s plenty out their I consider hateful, false, and disgusting. But they still have the right to say it, regardless of how it offends me. It’s a 2 way street, you take the good and bad. This is fascist BS.
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Kizzie, yes the run of the mill masses understood. The politicians didn’t call out the people. In this case, Republican politicians have called them out and want them dealt with. In the BLM cases the Dem politicians (Harris) were bailing them out.
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Remember how the run of the mill Muslim does not publically condemn the Muslim terrorist groups? Fear makes them afraid to speak out. I think the same principle is going on with the silent portion of moderates on the left. That is the difference with the fringe on the right. Typically they don’t target the more gentle people on their side of the fence (except those who were threatening VP Pence). There is a lot to feel pity over for those on the left from my point of view, a deplorable Southerner.
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Free speech does come with some legal limits, it should be noted.
Specifically:
Freedom of speech does not include the right:
To incite actions that would harm others (e.g., “[S]hout[ing] ‘fire’ in a crowded theater.”).
Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919).
To make or distribute obscene materials.
Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476 (1957).
To burn draft cards as an anti-war protest.
United States v. O’Brien, 391 U.S. 367 (1968).
To permit students to print articles in a school newspaper over the objections of the school administration.
Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 260 (1988).
Of students to make an obscene speech at a school-sponsored event.
Bethel School District #43 v. Fraser, 478 U.S. 675 (1986).
Of students to advocate illegal drug use at a school-sponsored event.
Morse v. Frederick, __ U.S. __ (2007).
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Here’s the thing. I signed up for MeWe…I didn’t like it. I joined some very “safe” groups…Christian bookclub, Christian Moms, Primitive Decorating site, Classic book site. I clicked on my Christian bookclub page and there was a link to porn that had been there for hours as I observed the posting time. There was no oversight on that page by an admin….I simply stated that it was ridiculous and that I was leaving….I had that right…if I didn’t like it I could leave….same as Parler…if you don’t like it…leave. Of course I only followed Bongino, DL Harris, Nunes, and Kevin Thomas who is known as The Log Whisperer…he lives in TN…a follower of Christ…and he builds log homes….
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A friend sent this off of a social media post:
WELL SAID MR. SPEAKER
This pretty much hits the nail on the head. Very well-written and worth the short read.
by Newt Gingrich
“A smart friend of mine who is a moderate liberal asked why I was not recognizing Joe Biden’s victory.
The friend made the case that Biden had gotten more votes, and historically we recognize the person with the most votes. Normally, we accept the outcome of elections just as we accept
the outcomes of sporting events.
So, my friend asked why was 2020 different?
Having spent more than four years watching the left
#Resist President Donald Trump and focus entirely on undoing and undermining the 2016 election, it took me several days to understand the depth of my own feelings.
As I thought about it, I realized my anger and fear were not narrowly focused on votes. My unwillingness to relax and accept that the election was over grew out of a level of outrage
and alienation unlike anything I had experienced in more than 60 years involvement in public affairs.
The challenge is that I – and other conservatives – are not disagreeing with the left within a commonly understood world. We live in alternative worlds.
The left’s world is mostly the established world of the forces who have been dominant for most of my life.
My world is the populist rebellion which believes we are being destroyed, our liberties are being cancelled, and our religions are under assault. (Note the new Human Rights Campaign
to decertify any religious school which does not accept secular sexual values – and that many Democrat governors have kept casinos open while closing churches though the COVID-19 pandemic.) We also believe other Democrat-led COVID-19 policies have enriched
the wealthy while crushing middle class small business owners (some 160,000 restaurants may close).
In this context, let’s talk first about the recent past and the presidency.
In 2016, I supported an outsider candidate, who was rough around the edges and in the Andrew Jackson school of controversial assaults on the old order. When my candidate won, it was
blamed on the Russians. We now know (four years later) Hillary Clinton’s own team financed the total lie that fueled this attack. Members of the FBI twice engaged in criminal acts to help it along – once in avoiding prosecution of someone who had deleted 33,000
emails and had a subordinate use a hammer to physically destroy hard drives, and a second time by lying to FISA judges to destroy General Michael Flynn and spy on then-candidate Donald Trump and his team. The national liberal media aided and abetted every
step of the way. All this was purely an attempt to cripple the new president and lead to the appointment of a special counsel – who ultimately produced nothing.
Now, people in my world are told it is time to stop resisting and cooperate with the new president. But we remember that the Democrats wanted to cooperate with Trump so much that they
began talking about his impeachment before he even took office. The Washington Post ran a story on Democrat impeachment plots the day of the Inauguration. In fact, nearly 70 Democratic lawmakers boycotted his inauguration. A massive leftwing demonstration
was staged in Washington the day after, where Madonna announced she dreamed of blowing up the White House to widespread applause. These same forces want me to cooperate with their new president. I find myself adopting the Nancy Pelosi model of constant resistance.
Nothing I have seen from Biden since the election offers me any hope that he will reach out to the more than 74 million Americans who voted for President Trump.
So, I am not reacting to the votes so much as to the whole election environment.
When Twitter and Facebook censored the oldest and fourth largest newspaper (founded by Alexander Hamilton) because it accurately reported news that could hurt Biden’s chances – where
were The New York Times and The Washington Post?
The truth of the Hunter Biden story is now becoming impossible to avoid or conceal. The family of the Democrat nominee for president received at least $5 million from an entity controlled
by our greatest adversary. It was a blatant payoff, and most Americans who voted for Biden never heard of it – or were told before the election it was Russian disinformation. Once they did hear of it, 17% said they would have switched their votes, according
to a poll by the Media Research Center. That’s the entire election. The censorship worked exactly as intended.
Typically, newspapers and media outlets band together when press freedom is threatened by censorship. Where was the sanctimonious ‘democracy dies in darkness’?
Tragically, The Washington Post is now part of the darkness.
But this is just a start. When Twitter censors four of five Rush Limbaugh tweets in one day, I fear for the country
When these monolithic internet giants censor the President of the United States, I fear for the country.
When I see elite billionaires like Mark Zuckerburg are able to spend $400 million to hire city governments to maximize turnout in specifically Democratic districts – without any regard
to election spending laws or good governance standards – I fear for the country.
When I read that Apple has a firm rule of never irritating China – and I watch the NBA kowtow to Beijing, I fear for our country.
When I watch story after story about election fraud being spiked – without even the appearance of journalistic due diligence or curiosity – I know something is sick.
The election process itself was the final straw in creating the crisis of confidence which is accelerating and deepening for many millions of Americans.
Aside from a constant stream of allegations of outright fraud, there are some specific outrages – any one of which was likely enough to swing the entire election.
Officials in virtually every swing state broke their states’ own laws to send out millions of ballots or ballot applications to every registered voter. It was all clearly documented
in the Texas lawsuit, which was declined by the US Supreme Court based on Texas’ procedural standing – not the merits of the case. That’s the election.
In addition, it’s clear that virtually every swing state essentially suspended normal requirements for verifying absentee ballots. Rejection rates were an order of magnitude lower than
in a normal year. In Georgia, rejection rates dropped from 6.5% in 2016 to 0.2% in 2020. In Pennsylvania, it went from 1% in 2016 to .003% in 2020. Nevada fell from 1.6% to .75%. There is no plausible explanation other than that they were counting a huge number
of ballots – disproportionately for Biden – that normally would not have passed muster. That’s the election.
The entire elite liberal media lied about the timeline of the C0VlD-19 vaccine. They blamed President Trump for the global pandemic even as he did literally everything top scientists
instructed. In multiple debates, the moderators outright stated that he was lying about the US having a vaccine before the end of the year (note Vice President Mike Pence received it this week). If Americans had known the pandemic was almost over, that too
was likely the difference in the election.
The unanimously never-Trump debate commission spiked the second debate at a critical time in order to hurt President Trump. If there had been one more debate like the final one, it likely
would have been pivotal.
This is just the beginning. But any one of those things alone is enough for Trump supporters to think we have been robbed by a ruthless establishment – which is likely to only get more
corrupt and aggressive if it gets away with these blatant acts.
For more than four years, the entire establishment mobilized against the elected President of the United States as though they were an immune system trying to kill a virus. Now, they
are telling us we are undermining democracy.
You have more than 74 million voters who supported President Trump despite everything – and given the election mess, the number could easily be significantly higher. The truth is tens
of millions of Americans are deeply alienated and angry.
If Biden governs from the left – and he will almost certainly be forced to – that number will grow rapidly, and we will win a massive election in 2022.
Given this environment, I have no interest in legitimizing the father of a son who Chinese Communist Party members boast about buying. Nor do I have any interest in pretending that the
current result is legitimate or honorable. It is simply the final stroke of a four-year establishment-media power grab. It has been perpetrated by people who have broken the law, cheated the country of information, and smeared those of us who believe in America
over China, history over revisionism, and the liberal ideal of free expression over cancel culture.
I write this in genuine sorrow, because I think we are headed toward a serious, bitter struggle in America. This extraordinary, coordinated four-year power grab threatens the fabric
of our country and the freedom of every American.”
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NancyJill, I think it’s more than “If you don’t like it, leave.” Let’s say your husband is a politician, and you see people on there threatening his life or threatening to bomb the building where he works. You can “leave,” but that won’t really solve the problem.
Locally, a couple of public areas have become camping grounds for the homeless. One area is a public park. Another is technically private property, but the business no longer uses it and it is next to a public area (the trail Michelle and I walked on when she visited me). If I walk that trail now, I walk the branch on the far side, away from dozens of tents of homeless people, and people stay out of the park because it isn’t sanitary or safe. But it also isn’t right simply to let people do whatever they want, at any level of threat to the public health.
On Flickr, pornographic photos are allowed, but you’re supposed to mark them accordingly. All the photos I post are marked “safe,” and my account is also set up only to show “safe” photos. If a photo comes up somewhere that isn’t marked “safe,” on anything I see it just shows up as pixellated gray. If I want to see it, I can (I don’t, of course), but it doesn’t automatically come up in my feed. And if a nude photo comes up that is marked “safe,” I can report it. Some sort of safeguard of the sort needs to be in place. If people are threatening to kill other people, no site should allow that–there needs to be a way to report it. If people are planning to protest and assert their second-amendment rights, police might know to be present to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand, but the protest itself is legal. But there needs to be a way to reject content that threatens people.
I don’t think the site should have been simply shut down, but I do think the public square isn’t well served by allowing public drug use, camping, and defecation–or the internet equivalent. Unfortunately, anarchy does invite totalitarian control. Self-policing is far wiser.
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Re: parler
I have said that i could be a Libertarian if i had faith on my fellow man. As the populace moves further away from the gospel. So will the actions they allow as right and good. When there are no laws or personal restraint, chaos will reign. I could see the problems coming. I don’t know what the answer is. I wish we could just rely on people to self regulate….
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rkessler: Yup.
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And democracy actually is quite fragile, a delicate balancing act that is easy to tilt and disrupt — and even to dismantle if conditions become too chaotic. Anarchy to tyranny.
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AJ – As I said to Janice, I do think Parler should have been given a warning first, and time to deal with the violent and pornographic posts. Although I do believe strongly in the concept of free speech, there is a limit, as Cheryl pointed out.
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Repeating Olasky’s comment: ~ Can anything good come out of Wednesday’s mob action in the Capitol? Only if we do our best to minimize the possibility of something far worse happening. ~
Which way will we go?
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Kizzie, I’m pretty sure parler was given a warning. At least I had heard they had been given 24 hours to come up with a plan (how detailed it had to be, I don’t know, or whether they made any attempt to do so). It was a day or two after I heard they had been given a day to submit a plan that I heard they were shut down. I don’t work in such areas and have no idea whether 24 hours was anything close to adequate, or whether parler made any attempt in that direction.. But it doesn’t seem that they were simply shut down with no warning.
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I’ve seen the administrator interviewed and it seems to me the problem was the quick turnaround timing combined with their not being set up with enough staff infrastructure to handle the task at hand.
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What Parler may have wanted (and asked for?) was more time to fix things, but I’m not sure about that.
Hosting a social media site may have just sounded easier than it really was in reality. You can’t just set it up and let folks have at it.
See rkessler’s point at 7:39
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We just returned from small group and it was sweet…no one spoke of politics at all…we all just prayed and studied the Word.
Cheryl I should have specified to what I was referring…I was talking about a comment that was made about porn being allowed on Parler. If someone on any social media site is threatening the life of another I whole heartedly believe that should be addressed and or even investigated.
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DJ,
About your list…..
Most of it IS allowed.
“Specifically:
Freedom of speech does not include the right:
To incite actions that would harm others (e.g., “[S]hout[ing] ‘fire’ in a crowded theater.”).
Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919).
On this we agree
——
To make or distribute obscene materials.
Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476 (1957).
Where you been? It’s everywhere, and just clicks away. Even easily available in the schools you mention below as well, in many cases as part of the ciriculum.
——
To burn draft cards as an anti-war protest.
United States v. O’Brien, 391 U.S. 367 (1968).
And yet…. the 60’s
——
To permit students to print articles in a school newspaper over the objections of the school administration.
Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 260 (1988).
That’s more of a kid’s rights vs parents and schools type case, not really about free speech.
———–
Of students to make an obscene speech at a school-sponsored event.
Bethel School District #43 v. Fraser, 478 U.S. 675 (1986).
Agree.
——-
Of students to advocate illegal drug use at a school-sponsored event.
Morse v. Frederick, __ U.S. __ (2007).”
Agree, mostly…..
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