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ACLU voices concern about ‘unchecked power’ by Big Tech after Twitter permanently bans Trump

Even the American Civil Liberties Union is sounding the alarm about Big Tech removing President Donald Trump’s accounts from its various platforms.

What is the ACLU saying?

The civil rights organization, which often fights against conservative causes, released a statement Friday expressing concern that the movement to deplatform Trump could be a slippery slope with eventual unintended consequences, especially for minority groups.

ACLU senior legislative counsel Kate Ruane said in a statement:

For months, President Trump has been using social media platforms to seed doubt about the results of the election and to undermine the will of voters. We understand the desire to permanently suspend him now, but it should concern everyone when companies like Facebook and Twitter wield the unchecked power to remove people from platforms that have become indispensable for the speech of billions — especially when political realities make those decisions easier.

President Trump can turn to his press team or Fox News to communicate with the public, but others — like the many Black, Brown, and LGBTQ activists who have been censored by social media companies — will not have that luxury. It is our hope that these companies will apply their rules transparently to everyone.

What’s the background?

After the U.S. Capitol riots last Wednesday, social media networks and various online services began restricting Trump’s accounts, claiming his rhetoric helped incite the deadly violence.

After initially slapping Trump with a temporary suspension, Twitter took unprecedented action against the president on Friday when it permanently banned Trump’s account, citing "risk of further incitement of violence."

Unfortunately for Trump, it’s not just Twitter: Facebook and Instagram have also suspended Trump’s accounts through at least Inauguration Day. Snapchat, Shopify, Twitch, Reddit, YouTube, Google, TikTok, PayPal, Discord, Pinterest, and even email providers have taken action against Trump or Trump-related content.

In response, conservatives have flocked to Parler, an alternative social media platform that promises to promote free speech.

However, Parler later found itself in the crosshairs, and has now been dumped from the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and Amazon web hosting services. The Big Tech companies had demanded that Parler increase its content moderation, alleging that Parler had been hosting content that promoted violence.

Parler CEO John Matze responded by claiming his company was the target of a concerted effort against free speech.

Matze said, "We will try our best to move to a new provider right now as we have many competing for our business, however Amazon, Google and Apple purposefully did this as a coordinated effort knowing our options would be limited and knowing this would inflict the most damage right as President Trump was banned from the tech companies."

"This was a coordinated attack by the tech giants to kill competition in the market place. We were too successful too fast," Matze added. "You can expect the war on competition and free speech to continue, but don’t count us out."

via Conservative Review

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Mollie Hemingway Calls Out Media’s Double Standard on Riots and Violence

In the aftermath of the seditious acts of some Trump supporters in storming the Capitol building while they grotesquely chanted “hang Mike Pence,” the liberal media insisted the double standard in the situation came from Capitol Police (suggesting they were harsher on Black Lives Matter). But During Sunday’s MediaBuzz on Fox News, Federalist editor Mollie Hemingway called out the media for their double standard in their rhetoric and coverage of the “summer of rage” featuring mass BLM and Antifa violence.
In his request for her thoughts on the matter, host Howard Kurtz noted “many pundits now are claiming vindication saying we’ve been telling you for four years that President Trump was dangerous…”
“Right, well, what I was thinking of earlier too is that people aren’t putting enough blame on other people as well and the media. Because this is a media show, I think we need to talk about what they did to contribute to the situation as well,” she chided the left.
From there, Hemingway recalled how, for years and years, the liberal media were permissive of leftist groups who would storm and occupy state Capitol buildings, attack other government buildings, and disrupt proceedings:
The media have generally praised takeovers from state capitols whether that was in Wisconsin in 2011, Texas in 2013, which they widely praised. Also, the attacks of the Kavanaugh confirmation process, in which the media and Democrats actually encouraged the disruption of the proceedings there, the attack on the Supreme Court. Not to mention this entire summer of rage that we saw. The media not just coddling but enabling and supporting.
And other people such as Democrats working to bailout rioters who took over cities, dozens of people that were killed, there was billions of dollars in damage, there were attacks on federal courthouses, federal buildings, state and local buildings, churches, businesses.
 
 
“These are things that the media generally encouraged. It took months to get anybody on the left to condemn them and the media kept saying, ‘you have to listen to what people have to say.’” She explained. “Basically saying, if you want to be heard, violence is an appropriate way to go about doing that. That also contributes to it.”
And she had a point. Over the summer was saw CNN host Chris Cuomo actually defended the violence by demanding we “show me where it says that protesters are supposed to be polite and peaceful.” And after the election, he threatened the lives of Republican lawmakers by declaring “they are going to lose way more than this election.”
Hemingway also teed off on the Big Tech companies for, as she put it, trying to crack down on their political opponents:
The response to this is terrifying. What’s happening with Twitter, big-tech oligarchs work to suppress any political opposition. Working on the day that Democrats get complete control of Washington, D.C. with the Senate. This is something that is a massive story. The media seem to generally cheerleading this as well.
“It’s almost a collusion between big media, big tech, and the Democratic Party to completely wipe out a political movement that has 75 million Americans in it,” she surmised.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
Fox News Channel’s MediaBuzz
January 10, 2021
11:08:00 a.m. Eastern
(…)
HOWARD KURTZ: One is that many pundits now are claiming vindication saying we’ve been telling you for four years that President Trump was dangerous, like your thoughts on that and we’ll talk about this in another segment, but brief comments on Twitter taking the step of permanently banning Donald Trump?
MOLLIE HEMINGWAY: Right, well, what I was thinking of earlier too is that people aren’t putting enough blame on other people as well and the media. Because this is a media show, I think we need to talk about what they did to contribute to the situation as well.
The media have generally praised takeovers from state capitols whether that was in Wisconsin in 2011, Texas in 2013, which they widely praised. Also, the attacks of the Kavanaugh confirmation process, in which the media and Democrats actually encouraged the disruption of the proceedings there, the attack on Supreme Court. Not to mention this entire summer of rage that we saw. The media not just coddling but enabling and supporting.
And other people such as Democrats working to bailout rioters who took over cities, dozens of people that were killed, there was billions of dollars in damage, there were attacks on federal courthouses, federal buildings, state and local buildings, churches, businesses.
These are things that the media generally encouraged. It took months to get anybody on the left to condemn them and the media kept saying, ‘you have to listen to what people have to say.’ Basically saying, if you want to be heard, violence is an appropriate way to go about doing that. That also contributes to it.
The response to this is terrifying. What’s happening with Twitter, big-tech oligarchs work to suppress any political opposition. Working on the day that Democrats get complete control of Washington, D.C. with the Senate. This is something that is a massive story. The media seem to generally cheerleading this as well. It’s almost a collusion between big media, big tech, and the Democratic Party to completely wipe out a political movement that has 75 million Americans in it.
(…)

via NewsBusters – Exposing Liberal Media Bias

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Here It Comes: ‘Patriot Act 2.0’ Aimed At The UnWoke Enemy Within

Here It Comes: ‘Patriot Act 2.0’ Aimed At The UnWoke Enemy Within

Authored by Kit Knightly via Off-Guardian.org,

It’s not been often, in the five years OffG has existed, that we’ve had to cop to missing something important within 24 hours of publishing an article – but this is one of those times.

In my article yesterday – “The Storming of the Capitol”: America’s Reichstag Fire? – I said this [my emphasis]:

Although there is not yet any talk of legislation [in response to the Capitol Hill riots], it’s certainly true there are whispers of purges and other measures to “protect the constitution”.

That quote did not age well, indeed it was wrong from the moment it went to print. Because, as it turns out, there has actually been “talk of legislation” for weeks – even months. Soon-to-be-President Joe Biden promised a new “domestic terrorism bill” back in November, according to the Wall Street Journal.

That is why you’re seeing so much usage of the phrase “domestic terrorism” in the last couple of days.

It’s the meme-phrase. The primary talking point for this whole exercise. It was underlined in all the memos sent out to all the media outlets.

That’s why Joe Biden went to such lengths to distinguish “domestic terrorists” from “protesters” in his speech following the riots.

That’s why the Council on Foreign Relations had an interview with a “counter-terrorism and national security expert” published within 24 hours of the incident, in which he spends 4 paragraphs arguing that the people who “stormed the capitol” were domestic terrorists.

That’s why the Washington Post has got an article dedicated to “lawmakers and experts” arguing that the Capitol Hill protest was an act of “domestic terrorism”. And so have Vox. And Mother Jones.

That’s why ABC had an article about how “domestic terrorism and hate crimes” were a growing problem in America…a week before the riot took place.

And that’s why #TrumpisaDomesticTerrorist is trending on Twitter.

Georgetown University, a well-known spook college, published a paper in September 2020 titled the “The Need for a Specific Law Against Domestic Terrorism”, and op-ed pieces bemoaning the lack of such a law have been dotted through the press going back to last summer and even late 2019.

There was one published yesterday, in which a “senior FBI official” says “more could have been done” if there had been a “specific law outlawing” domestic terrorism.

“Domestic Terrorism” is clearly where it’s at in early 2021, so we can expect a brand new law regarding it…probably by March, at the latest.

What will “Domestic Terrorism” mean in this law?

The answer to that is pretty much always “whatever they want it to mean.”

Certainly, it will include “incitement” and “hate speech”, I would expect “denialism” to make an appearance, and be downright shocked if “spreading misinformation” doesn’t get a mention. Don’t be surprised if “questioning elections” or “bringing democracy into disrepute” is made an outright crime.

It will probably be tied into the Covid “pandemic” in some way, too. After all, what is discouraging people from taking vaccines if not the very definition of “terrorism”, right? It’s possible that even climate change will get a mention as well. They like to slide that into every issue these days.

Joe Biden has claimed multiple times to be the author of the original Patriot Act, saying it was based entirely on a bill he proposed in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995.

Well now he has a chance to work on the reboot too, and they are always so much better when you can get the original creative team back together.

Tyler Durden
Sun, 01/10/2021 – 15:25

via ZeroHedge News

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Watch: Video Allegedly Shows CCP Sealing People In Homes Amid Virus Outbreak

Watch: Video Allegedly Shows CCP Sealing People In Homes Amid Virus Outbreak

Unconfirmed videos were published on Twitter handle @TruthAbtChina that show the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) law enforcement or health officials or some governmental agency, placed "seals" on apartment doors to make sure people abide by new lockdown orders. 

In the first video, TruthAbtChina tweeted: "People have been escaping quarantined communities in the recent lockdowns in China. In response, the CCP is putting a seal on the door of each apartment. The stickers say: If the seal is broken, there will be legal consequences." 

If Twitter police delete the video – we saved a segment of it in GIF format.

New lockdowns are the result of the virus pandemic reemerging in the country. 

The Twitter handle outlined infections are increasing in Yingkou, a coastal prefecture-level city of central southern Liaoning province, which state-media is attributing the cases as "imported." 

"Whether or not they are imported, the CCP is locking down communities where the confirmed cases had contact," TruthAbtChina said.

To reiterate, the videos are unconfirmed and could be recycled from earlier in the pandemic when CCP officials were locking people in their homes to mitigate the spread. 

But while a sudden stratospheric warming event has split the pour vortex into two, blanketing China with frigid air, colder temperatures will accelerate outbreaks, as Goldman Sachs recently noted. 

So it comes as no surprise that we can confirm 11 million people were placed into lockdown in the city of Shijiazhuang because of increasing infections. 

Health officials have sealed off the Hebei province and ordered mass testing. 

Travel restrictions were also put in place around China’s capital Beijing. 

So it remains to be seen if the videos are legit but outline that China may have a virus problem that could slow its economic recovery. 

Tyler Durden
Sun, 01/10/2021 – 15:50

via ZeroHedge News

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Parler CEO Says Big Tech Effort Against His Company Even Bigger Than People Know, Are ‘An Assault On Everybody’


Via NY Post:

Parler CEO Mark Matze said Sunday that the “devastating” Big Tech ban of the right-wing app could put the company out of business, calling it “an assault on everybody.”

His comment came a day after Amazon kicked the booming app off its web hosting services.

“It’s devastating is what it is,” Matze said on Fox News. “They all work together to make sure at the same time we would lose access to not only our apps, but they’re actually shutting all of our servers off tonight, off the internet.”

“They made an attempt to not only kill the app, but to actually destroy the entire company,” he said. “And it’s not just these three companies.

“Every vendor from text message services to email providers to our lawyers all ditched us too on the same day,” Matze said.

Keep reading…

via Weasel Zippers

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12-Year-Old Raises $42,000 for Homeless Man Who Returned Grandma’s Wallet


A 12-year-old girl is helping out a homeless man who returned her grandmother’s lost wallet by creating a GoFundMe page that has raised more than $42,000 for him and others in his situation.

The man, Sean Currey, was scrounging for food through a dumpster behind a San Rafael, California, coffee shop on December 10 when he saw a wallet belonging to 80-year-old Evelyn Topper, of Mill Valley, the Washington Post reported.

Currey, who has been homeless on and off over the years, admitted that he thought about using the cards at first, but he ultimately decided to call Topper and give back the wallet.

“Anybody in the position of being homeless and cold and tired and hungry, if they found a credit card, they’re going to think about it,” Currey, 57, told the Post. “But whether you’re going to act on it is two different things.”

“I would rather be cold and hungry and know that I did the right thing,” he added.

Topper lost her wallet the day before while picking up drinks for herself and her granddaughter at Kamson Coffee, KNTV reported.

Topper did not realize her wallet was missing until she got home.

“In this little wallet was everything,” she told KNTV. “Every credit, debit, Medicare card. Everything I own. I was distraught.”

Not long after, Topper received a phone call from an unknown number. Currey was on the other line telling her that he found her wallet and wanted to return it to her.

After hearing about how Currey returned her grandma’s wallet, 12-year-old Mikayla Gounard wanted to find a way to give back.

So her mother started a GoFundMe page on her behalf to raise money for Currey and others in his situation. As of Sunday afternoon, the page had raised more than $42,000.

Their goal was to raise enough money to get Currey off the streets and into temporary housing so he could stay “safe and warm.”

via Breitbart News

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Church Celebrates Paying Off $2.5 Million Debt During Pandemic


A Michigan church is celebrating being debt-free after paying off its more than $2 million mortgage in a short amount of time.

“Just 14 years ago, Galilee Baptist Church moved into a new building in Kalamazoo’s Northside neighborhood, and the senior pastor said it’s the community’s support that got them to where they are today: debt-free,” Fox 17 reported last week.

Neighbors are quite familiar with the house of worship that has served them for about 60 years.

“I believe that if we were not here, there would be a huge void being that we are located in this particular section of the Northside,” said Senior Pastor Dr. Michael T. Scott.

“We get a lot of walk-ins, individuals that are in the community that know that we are here, people are hungry, children need pampers, and individuals need financial support,” he added.

When the church changed locations, it gained an expensive mortgage.

“We were looking at 30 years of a total of about $2.5 million, and so we had to really be intentional with making our payments and doubling up with our payments,” the pastor said.

However, the church made its final payment just before the new year which it said was a huge accomplishment during a time when so many are struggling.

Scott praised the congregation for helping them reach the goal so they can continue helping their neighbors.

“A lot of people are going through trials and tribulations, personally and financially, mentally, spiritually, and so I like to believe that the church is something that reaches all of those areas,” he said.

“I would hate to think what it would be like if we were not here,” Scott noted.

On December 31, the church gathered for a “Mortgage Burning Ceremony” outside the building:

“To God be the glory!” one person in attendance said as the document burned.

On what appeared to be his Twitter profile, Scott shared photos of the event, writing, “What a great way to end 2020 tonight by burning the church mortgage and liquidation of all debt $2M”:

The church is planning a second expansion so it can eventually serve more residents in Kalamazoo.

via Breitbart News

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President Trump’s Approval Ratings Have Gone Up Since the ‘Stop the Steal’ Protests Last Week In Washington DC

The Democrats and many of the Republicans might hate President Trump more since his speech last Wednesday but polling shows President Trump’s approval has actually gone up amongst Americans.

Thomas Lifson at the American Thinker writes:

If you believe the media and most Beltway politicians, the entire country is appalled at President Trump and wants him erased from history.  A moral panic is being pushed by the media and other Democrats in the wake of the incursion into the United States Capitol.  It has been persuasive to the media, including many nominal conservatives.  And it may have convinced many Republican politicians that President Trump is now a marginal figure, at best, and should be shunned.

But unless the Rasmussen polling organization suddenly has become inaccurate after being far more accurate than most presidential polls, the mainstream of conservative America, roughly half the country, isn’t buying it, and Trump’s approval has actually risen.

President Trump’s approval at Rasmussen was as follows last week:

No matter what the Democrats and their media do, Americans aren’t buying their BS. 

The post President Trump’s Approval Ratings Have Gone Up Since the ‘Stop the Steal’ Protests Last Week In Washington DC appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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