Beware of Wolves In Sheep’s Clothing


I am on Facebook. There is also a Right Wing Granny group on Facebook (that anyone can join) where I place articles that I may later write up for the blog. Recently there has been a group on Facebook claiming to be mainstream Republicans (they are actually never-Trumpers) posting things saying that the Democrats want President Trump as the candidate because they know Joe Biden can beat him. They have also recently posted that if President Trump is the nominee, the Republicans will lose their majority in the House and will lose Senators. They have the freedom to post whatever they want, but let’s look at this more closely.

First of all, when you see a post similar to the ones mentioned above, find out who is funding the group. There are a lot of uni-party groups claiming to be Republican that are being funded by groups that we know do not want Republican success—or at least the success of Republicans who are not part of the uni-party.

I want to address the claim that if President Trump is the nominee, the Republicans will lose their majority in the House and will lose seats in the Senate. Frankly, if the Republicans in Congress don’t start acting like Republicans, they deserve to lose both the House and the Senate. Whatever happened to closing the southern border? Can’t they find any Democrats who are willing to work with them on closing the southern border? What about cutting spending? What about sending money we don’t have overseas and refusing to audit how that money is being spent? Can’t the Republicans at least make these things an issue every day? Shut down the government if you have to—there are worse things. I believe that the dumbest thing America ever did was air condition government buildings in Washington—if we had not done that, the politicians would have gone home during the summer! That would have been good for the country.

At any rate, don’t believe the trolls on Facebook. Anyone can form an organization and claim to be something they are not. If the Republicans don’t start acting like Republicans, none of them deserve our vote.

Some Glitches In The Technology

On Friday, The American Thinker posted an article about a man launching his jet ski into the water at a boat ramp. That really doesn’t sound like an article for The American Thinker until you look into the details.

The article quotes a Facebook post by an organization of firefighters in Hollywood, Florida:

On Sunday Oct 1st, a Tesla Model S [sic] was attempting to back a jet ski into the water at the Polk Street boat ramp, when it lost traction and slid into the inter-coastal [sic]. The salt water reacted with the the [sic] vehicle’s electronics causing them to short, sparking a fire that burned underwater for an extended period of time.

The fire was allowed to burn underwater until it extinguished itself. And even then, it had to be loaded carefully onto a special carrier, and followed by the Fire Engine to the impound lot, where they’ll keep the vehicle isolated for a few days in the very real possibility of re-ignition. EVs have been known to reignite even after the initial fire has been extinguished.

The article also quotes Autoblog:

The wife backs the trailer and jet ski into the water, the husband gets the jet ski into the water. While the husband is on the water on the jet ski, the Tesla begins flashing a warning to the wife to get out of the Model X. The car’s electronically powered doors are closed, and whatever malfunction is occurring won’t permit the doors to open. Apparently, the wife didn’t know about the manual release for the doors, so the husband rocks up and gets her out before the Model X ends up submerged.

The article concludes:

As the firefighters’ Facebook post also noted, the uniqueness of EV fires is creating a “whole new level of hazard” to fire prevention and fire service apparatuses:

This is an issue with all Electric Vehicles, not just Tesla. And their prevalence is adding a whole new level of hazard to the Fire Service, causing Fire Departments worldwide to rethink how they mitigate electric vehicle emergencies.

If this occurrence isn’t just another datum point in the obvious trend proving that avoiding battery-powered cars is the way to go (for the sake of humanity and the environment), and shoring up the reality that the left always has the stupidest ideas, then I don’t know what is.

This story could have had a very different ending. Thank God that the husband was quick to unlock the door.

 

 

Exposing The Lies

On Monday, Trending Politics reported that the FBI agent who testified about the agency’s involvement with Hunter Biden’s laptop lied under oath to put distance between the Bureau and efforts to discredit the information gleaned from its discovery. Why is it that people who lie under oath to protect Democrats never seem to be held accountable?

The article reports:

Rep. Jordan’s announcement comes as part of the Facebook Files, an effort by House Republicans to disclose the multitude of ways in which federal authorities have pressured social media companies to silence critics and oppress the free flow of information. New documents obtained by the Judiciary Committee show that the FBI previously met with Big Tech companies in the wake of the laptop’s discovery and sought to suppress news about it on major social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Elvis Chan, a Special Agent with the FBI, served as the “main conduit” between Big Tech and the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force in 2016, according to Jordan. Chan, in addition to Task Force Chief Laura Dehmlow, originally confirmed the authenticity of the laptop to Twitter before changing course and telling Facebook and other social media companies “no comment.” The answer led Facebook, and eventually Twitter, to suppress the sharing of news stories about Hunter’s laptop.

It has become very obvious in recent months that the American voters have been lied to and led to believe things that were simply not true. If we allow the people currently in control of the Department of Justice and the White House to continue in these roles after 2024, then we are responsible for the death of equal justice in America. Think carefully before you vote next year.

Yuengling Does It Right

On Saturday, Hot Air posted an article about Yuengling Beer. I am not a beer drinker, so I am not qualified to comment on the quality of their beer, but I can comment on how well the company handled a tricky situation.

The article reports:

Yuengling Brewery has a unique story. It is a sixth-generation family-owned and family-run American brewery. It is America’s oldest brewery, celebrating its 194th anniversary. Wisdom is often a bi-product of age and I think it applies in this case. The company’s president is listed as Richard Yuengling Jr.

…Ironically, Yuengling is a German-origin name that means “young man” in English. Four women run the business now. To celebrate 194 years in business, Yuengling rolled out limited-edition, 12-ounce cans that read, “Let’s Go USA,” while featuring a Stars and Stripes design. No Pride rainbows or transgender characters to draw attention to the brand or insult regular Americans in order to attract The Woke. The pride this company is celebrating is old-fashioned patriotism. How refreshing. The sisters attribute the company’s continued success to “amazing employees and very loyal consumers.”

Even with such an All-American kind of family and business brand, a little scandal may fall. In 2016, for example, the patriarch, billionaire Dick Yuengling, publicly endorsed Donald Trump and Eric Trump visited him. The two men held a press conference. The rainbow mafia went nuts and D.C. gay bars started to boycott the beer, followed by other bars.

This week the brewery found itself dragged into another controversy. For many years, Yuengling has been a sponsor of Musikfest, an annual festival held in Pennsylvania. On Monday, the festival shared a promo on its Facebook page about this year’s event. Yuengling was included in the post, as a sponsor. Four days later the post was edited and Yuengling was removed from the text of the promotion. Why? Because social media followers went nuts.

A “family-friendly drag show” is a part of the festival’s events this year. The original promotion said that “babies in arms” would be admitted. Children under 2 “may not be recommended for some performances.” After the backlash began, ArtsQuest — the venue hosting the event — issued a statement absolving Yuengling of any involvement. And the age for admission into the show had been raised to 18+.

The article contrasts the actions of Yuengling with the actions of Budweiser:

And that, my friends, is how a company does damage control. Mind you, Yuengling has nothing to do with the drag show, “family-friendly” or not, and was only mentioned in the Facebook promo because it was listed as a sponsor. Yuengling quickly worked to nip the backlash in the bud. The well-respected brewery’s name was immediately removed and then the venue changed the age of admission to 18+. Bud Light waited too long to correct the damage brought on by its woke marketing director. They then half-assed the response – they suspended or fired a couple of people and hemmed and hawed about the whole situation. The CEO has still not apologized to Bud Light’s customers (now former customers) and three months down the road, Anheuser-Busch’s CEO is still trying to do clean-up. The CEO refused to do the one thing that would have started a thawing of the chill that Bud Light’s boycotters began – a simple apology. Now it’s too late.

If I drank beer, I would go out and order a Yuengling. They handled the situation correctly.

Please follow the link above to read the entire story.

Linking To This Article Got My Two Groups Restricted On Facebook

When I do my early morning research for this blog, I often post articles that I want to read later in two Facebook groups–Right Wing Granny and Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association. Both groups are open for anyone to join and posts made in those groups can be seen by everyone. I was a little surprised that linking to the following article got both of the groups restricted (my link went against community standards), but I suspect the tweet is the reason why.

On Monday, The Independent Journal Review posted the following headline:

James Woods Re-Writes Fox News’ Headline for Network – And It’s a Lot Better Now

The article at the Independent Journal Review reports:

Just like the American justice system, is Fox News using kiddie gloves when it comes to Hunter Biden now too? Or are they just sexists?

Hollywood legend James Woods thinks it’s squarely the latter as he blasted the beleaguered news network over a headline involving the incumbent president’s son.

The article includes the following screenshot:

By using the headline they used, the article immediately paints the picture of Biden’s son as almost an innocent bystander being attacked by someone is not considered worthy of respect.

The article notes:

The issue, however, was that the story also happened to display a headline that read: “Biden’s son dragged into court as fiery child support battle against ex-stripper heats up.”

Woods wasn’t a fan of that headline.

“He’s called ‘Biden’s son,’ but she’s dismissed as ‘ex-stripper,’” he pointed out. While the linked article above sports a different title, internet archives do show that Fox News featured that headline on Saturday morning.

“This is journalistic sexism at its lowest,” Woods said, before proceeding to fix it for Fox.

“Why couldn’t the headline just as easily read, ‘Ex-crack addict dragged into court by mother of his child?’” Woods said, making the headline better by significant margins on a couple of levels.

The child involved has been ignored by the Biden family. That may work to the child’s benefit considering some of the antics of the Biden family.

This Is What We Are Up Against!

This is a screenshot from a Facebook group I belong to. I have blocked out the names because I have not asked anyone permission to use it. The answers to the question asked are troubling.No one wants to add to the struggles of someone who has had a stroke, but there are some real questions as to the impact of that stroke.

Below is a video of Senator Fetterman’s comments on the collapse of the bring on Route 95:

I truly doubt that this man is capable of handling the job of Senator.

On A Lighter Note…

On Sunday, The Epoch Times posted an article about an officer in the Wyandotte Police Department (WPD) who was recently charged with stealing property from another officer. Below is a picture of Officer Ice, who is charged with the crime.

I might add at this point that I think Officer Ice is incredibly handsome.

The article reports:

On Jan. 12, the WDP stated solemnly:

It saddens me to report that a current officer of the Wyandotte Police Department is under investigation for stealing! 

The incident happened two days ago at the station. Ofc. Barwig was eating lunch in the breakroom when he was called to assist with a person in the WPD jail. He quickly jumped into service, leaving his half eaten lunch on the table. A short while later Barwig and another officer returned to the breakroom only to find Ofc. Ice leisurely strolling out of the room licking his chops. Barwig’s entire lunch was gone….disappeared, vanished!

Ofc. Ice has invoked his fifth amendment right to remain silent and quite frankly is not cooperating with the investigation. He has a history of rummaging through trash cans that are within his reach. There have been several other accusations of him taking food right from coworker’s hands as they walk by. 

WPD will consider our Facebook followers’ opinions on how to proceed with this investigation.

Officer Ice’s situation was updated on January 18 in another post:

Dozens of attorneys have offered to defend Ofc Ice pro-🦴– o!

We have been threatened with massive protests if we move forward with our investigation and/or charges.

Plus the overall public just doesn’t believe he is guilty. No video has been produced.

That being said Ofc Ice will not face any internal discipline or criminal charges. 

Matter of fact one of his local supporters, Lunch Wyandotte, dropped him off a custom made sandwich today because they felt like he wasn’t being fed enough. Side note, they threw the officers a tray of sammies too!  

The public has spoken.

Spoken indeed! It turns out, many in the public agree with the decision not to investigate Officer Ice. Some even aired their opinions in the comments section of the WPD’s Facebook post. Here is a sampling of what they had to say.

Expressing lucid legal understanding, Mat Vanella wrote: “Possession is 9/10th of the law. Case dismissed. Defamation case and belly rubs compensation awarded.”

Congratulations to Officer Ice.

Violating The First Amendment

On Monday, The Daily Caller posted an article about the pressure put on Facebook to censor speech that did not conform to the government narrative regarding Covid and Covid vaccines.

The article reports:

  • Members of the Biden administration pressured Facebook on not censoring a video of Tucker Carlson that was critical of vaccines in April of 2021, according to documents published Monday by Louisiana State Attorney General Jeff Landry.
  • Facebook ultimately refused multiple calls to delete the video, despite one White House official insinuating that the company’s intransigence was responsible for the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots, according to the documents..
  • “Throughout our case, we have uncovered disturbing collusion between Big Tech and Big Government,” Attorney General Landry told the DCNF. “Today’s reveal is yet another example of the ongoing coercive efforts by the White House to pressure social media companies into censoring American citizens.”

Presidents and media have had an up and down relationship since we have had both. I am sure that if President Kennedy had been able to control what The New York Times was reporting about him, he would have. However, that is no excuse for the bad behavior of the Biden administration.

The article continues:

Officials in the Biden administration repeatedly questioned Facebook’s decision to not completely censor a video posted by Tucker Carlson criticizing COVID-19 vaccines, at one point insinuating that the company was encouraging violent behavior and responsible for the Jan. 6 “insurrection,” according to emails published Monday by Louisiana State Attorney General Jeff Landry.

Andrew Slavitt — at the time the Biden administration’s COVID-19 czar — wrote a message to Facebook staff on the morning of April 14, 2021, expressing frustration that a Tucker Carlson video that was critical of COVID-19 was the “[n]umber one” post on Facebook, according to the emails. A Facebook staffer responded to Slavitt’s request at nearly 11:00 p.m. the same day, informing him that while the Carlson video did not qualify for removal, it was no longer being recommended to users, had a label sending users to “authoritative” sources of information on the pandemic and was being “demoted,” according to the emails.

It is illegal for the government to ask a private corporation to do something that the government cannot themselves legally do. This is a perfect example of that. Everyone involved needs to be fired and put in jail. Please follow the link above to read the entire article. It is chilling.

This Will Be Very Interesting

Yesterday The Gateway Pundit posted the following headline:

BREAKING: Dr. Fauci Will Be Deposed on November 23rd in Missouri-Louisiana Social Media Collusion Case with Gateway Pundit’s Jim Hoft as Plaintiff

Jim Hoft at The Gateway Pundit has been one of the reliable sources for information about the Covid pandemic and the effective treatments that the mainstream and social media tried to suppress. The effective treatments that were suppressed oddly enough were the ones where the drugs involved were relatively cheap and the profits of the pharmaceutical companies were not as much as with some of the newer drugs that were less effective.

The article reports:

The Gateway Pundit previously reported in May that Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, along with Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, filed a lawsuit (Missouri v. Biden) against the Biden Administration, including Biden himself, Anthony Fauci, the Department of Homeland Security and nearly a dozen federal agencies and Secretaries.

The suit alleges a massive coordinated effort by the Deep State (permanent administrative state) to work with Big Tech to censor and manipulate Americans – from average citizens to news outlets – on issues including the Hunter Biden Laptop from Hell, 2020 Election Integrity, COVID-19 origin and extent skepticism, COVID-19 vaccine skepticism, among other issues.

…In June, The Gateway Pundit began assisting Missouri AG Schmitt’s team and providing critical evidence of Facebook and Twitter censorship of the Gateway Pundit on all of these issues.

The article details the development of the case:

As we reported, the turning point came in September when Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg admitted in a Joe Rogan interview that Facebook algorithmically censored the Hunter Biden Laptop for 7 days following a request from the FBI to censor election “misinformation.”  

…Zuckerberg’s admission came after the Missouri v. Biden lawsuit forced Facebook to turn over documents – he was going to end up admitting it anyway.

It constituted a turning point in the battle for the preservation of the First Amendment and Free Speech in America.  His admission proved that the US Government and Big Tech coordinated to censor speech.

Previously, the government’s lawyers kept trying to portray all of this as a conspiracy theory.

NOPE. NOW, IT’S A CONSPIRACY FACT.

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office caught the Biden Administration red-handed. 

If the current Congress will not hold Dr. Fauci or the media accountable, then individual states need to take action.

 

Cherry Picking The Facts

I belong to a few liberal groups on Facebook–it helps me understand some of the thinking that is going on among liberal Americans. Sometimes I am amazed by what I read. Today was one of those times.

The following comment appeared:

Proof positive that leftist policies and socio-cultural norms (both legislatively and socially)are not only ideal, but a proven success.
That’s right republicans, states you run are economic failures , that’s a proven fact.
Toss that bible and take a lesson from the left coast. We moving on up to 4.

The comment was in reference to an article that appeared in Bloomberg with the following headline:

California Poised to Overtake Germany as World’s No. 4 Economy

Contrary to popular belief, the Golden State has proven resilient, outperforming its US and global peers.   

Note–the article at Bloomberg is an opinion piece–not a news article!

The article notes:

Gavin Newsom is as familiar as anyone with the media narrative of earthquakes, persistent wildfires, droughts, homelessness and companies fleeing California to Texas for a tax- and regulation-free lifestyle. This is nothing new. California’s governor recalls a 1994 Time Magazine cover story citing “a string of disasters rocks the state to the core, forcing Californians to ponder their fate and the fading luster of its golden dream.”

And yet, “the California dream is still alive and well,” the state’s 40th governor said in a Zoom interview a month before his probable reelection.

Attention–gaslighting alert!

Please follow the link if you choose to read the rest of the article. Meanwhile, here are a few facts.

The California Department of Justice reports:

Facts for 2021:

Crime Rates per 100,000 Population
*
The violent crime rate increased 6.7
percent in 2021 (from 437.0 in 2020 to
466.2 in 2021) (Table 2).

*
The property crime rate increased 3.0
percent in 2021 (from 2,114.4 in 2020 to
2,178.4 in 2021) (Table 2).

*
The homicide rate increased 9.1 percent
in 2021 (from 5.5 in 2020 to 6.0 in 2021)
(Table 2).

*
The burglary rate decreased 5.3 percent in
2021 (from 365.4 in 2020 to 346.2 in 2021)
(Table 2).

*
The rape rate increased 8.6 percent in 2021
(from 33.8 in 2020 to 36.7 in 2021) (Table
2).

*
The motor vehicle theft rate increased 8.2
percent in 2021 (from 422.4 in 2020 to
457.1 in 2021) (Table 2).

*
The arson rate decreased 4.4 percent (from
29.6
in 2020 to 28.3 in 2021) (Table 2).

In January 2022, Channel 10 News in San Diego reported:

A story you may have seen claims so many people are leaving California that U-Haul ran out of trucks in our state.

It’s apparently true.

U-Haul put out a news release in which it said California was the state that saw the biggest loss of one-way U-Haul trucks in 2021.

…California’s population has been steadily declining as more people leave the state while the number of people moving here has dropped.

The California Health Care Foundation reported the following in June 22:

The number of people experiencing homelessness served by California’s homelessness response system (Continuums of Care) increased from 188,000 in 2017 to 255,000 in 2020.

The Public Policy Institute of California reports:

The gap between high- and low-income families in California is among the largest in the nation—exceeding all but four other states in 2020. Families at the top of the income distribution earned 11 times more than families at the bottom ($270,000 vs. $25,000 for the 90th and 10th percentiles, respectively).

None of this sounds like a great place to live. Between crime, homelessness, and the income gap, it doesn’t sound like a socialist paradise. California is beautiful and has a wonderful climate–why do you think so many people are leaving?

A Victory For Freedom Of Speech

Having been routinely shadow banned on Facebook (there is a Right Wing Granny group on Facebook, please join), I appreciate the fact that Texas is fighting the censorship that Big Tech has imposed on conservatives in recent years. It seems that there may be an end to that censorship. As I write this, a friend’s post has been thoroughly blacked out because Facebook didn’t think anyone should be allowed to see it.

On Tuesday, Fox News reported the following:

A federal appeals court upheld a Texas law on Friday that seeks to curb censorship by social media platforms. The ruling, a major victory for Republicans who charge companies like Twitter and Facebook are limiting free speech, is a step in a major legal battle that could end up at the Supreme Court.

The lawsuit is challenging HB 20, a Texas bill signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott that regulates social media platforms with more than 50 million monthly users, which includes Google, Facebook and Twitter, and says they cannot censor or limit users’ speech based on viewpoint expression. 

In his opinion, Federal Judge Andrew S. Oldham of the Fifth Circuit said the platforms argued for “a rather odd inversion of the First Amendment” that “buried somewhere in the person’s enumerated right to free speech lies a corporation’s unenumerated right to muzzle speech.”

“Today we reject the idea that corporations have a freewheeling First Amendment right to censor what people say,” Judge Oldham continued.

The article notes:

Friday’s ruling created what is known as a “circuit split,” since the eleventh circuit struck down a similar social media law in Florida. A circuit split generally increases the likelihood of the Supreme Court taking up a case.

It will be interesting to see if the Supreme Court will take the case and what their ruling will be. It is also interesting to see if this case settled  before the mid-term election.

Is Anyone Surprised?

On Thursday, The Daily Wire posted an article about Joe Rogan’s recent interview of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Mark Zuckerberg stated that he was approached by the FBI and told to be aware of Russian propaganda before the New York Post published the Hunter Biden laptop story.

The article reports:

“I mean, basically, the background here is the FBI, I think, basically came to us, some folks on our team, and was like, ‘Hey, just so you know, like, you should be on high alert. There was, we thought that there was a lot of Russian propaganda in the 2016 election. We have it on notice that basically, there’s about to be some kind of dump that’s similar to that. So just be vigilant,’” Zuckerberg said.

“So our protocol is different from Twitter’s. What Twitter did is they said, ‘You can’t share this at all.’ We didn’t do that,” Zuckerberg continued. “What we do is we have, if something was reported to us as potentially misinformation, important misinformation, we also use third-party fact-checking program, because we don’t want to be deciding what’s true and false. And for the — I think it was five or seven days when it was basically being determined whether it was false, the distribution on Facebook was decreased, but people were still allowed to share it. So you could still share it; you could still consume it.”

Zuckerberg said that the reduced distribution on the platform meant that the story was ranked lower in people’s newsfeeds “so fewer people saw it than would have otherwise.”

On Thursday The Western Journal reported:

His (Zuckerberg) admission of FBI involvement in Big Tech censorship follows whistleblower claims of an organized operation to prevent a meaningful investigation of Hunter Biden before the 2020 presidential election.

NewsBusters polling suggests that as many as 9.4 percent of Biden voters in swing states would’ve reconsidered their vote if they had had full knowledge of the Hunter Biden controversy.

We have ceded a tremendous amount of power to social media. Maybe it is time to take some of that power back and make sure social media is an open, unbiased place to express opinions.

Investigating Social Media Censorship

On July 14th, The Conservative Review posted an article about the ongoing battle between Twitter and free speech. For a real analysis of exactly who and what Twitter is, please read this article from The Conservative Treehouse.

The article at The Conservative Review reports:

Can Congress pass a law requiring that all platforms of speech censor any negative comment about Pfizer? “Well, of course not,” you will say, “it violates the First Amendment.” In that case, why should it be different when the executive branch works intimately with government-created and liability-protected monopolies to zap anyone’s Twitter account who is critical of Pfizer and its magical products? That is not free market or private enterprise; it is the worst form of fascism, and now a new federal court ruling might bring this point to life.

On Tuesday, a federal judge in Louisiana granted the request from the Louisiana and Missouri attorneys general for discovery to collect documents linking the Biden administration to social media censorship. Thanks to this important order, we might be able to discover the scope of collaboration between government and Twitter and Facebook to censor stories (and people) pertaining to the Hunter Biden laptop story, the origins of COVID-19, the efficacy of masks and lockdowns, and election integrity.

On May 5, Missouri AG Eric Schmitt and Louisiana AG Jeff Landry filed a First Amendment complaint against the Biden administration in the Western District of Louisiana alleging that the administration violated the Free Speech Clause by working with the tech giants to label all dissenting viewpoints on the aforementioned issues as “misinformation.” They alleged that this effort is being led by a “Disinformation Governance Board” (“DGB”) within the Department of Homeland Security.

The article concludes:

While the legal dispute plays out in court, it’s time for conservatives in the legislatures to hit back at the RINO governors for continuing to act as if anything COVID-related – be it a vaccine or mask mandate – is somehow coming from the private sector. The government mandated it for some, censored opposing viewpoints, absolved pharma of liability, paid for the product, distributed it, and marketed it. The notion that private actors endorsing these policies is an exercise in free-market capitalism is absurd. It is the responsibility of the state to interpose against such tyranny by banning companies from joining in with the federal policies.

We saw this done very effectively when the Florida Department of Health recommended against the baby shots and refused to distribute them. Publix actually decided on its own to follow the guidance of Florida rather than the federal government. It demonstrates that so much of this enforcement in the private sector is being done with the federal boot on companies’ necks. Those Republicans who hide behind affinity for the “private” sector and free markets to allow federal tyranny, censorship, and persecution to continue are complicit in the worst form of fascism.
The fact that private monopolies get roped into government fascism doesn’t ameliorate the pig; it makes it even more dangerous.

As I write this, I am restricted on Facebook because of posting articles about the effectiveness of the Covid vaccine and the health problems people have experienced as a result of the vaccine. I believe this information should be easily accessible to the public, but evidently Facebook does not. I am not telling people to avoid social media, but I strongly suggest that you find sources other than Facebook and Twitter for your news if you want to get all of the news.

Check With The Experts Before You Change Your Name

Some of us are old enough to remember when Chevrolet introduced its new “Nova.” It was a cute, compact car that was marketed to compete with the Ford Falcon. However, there was a small problem marketing the Nova in Spanish-speaking countries. “No va” in Spanish translates loosely to “it doesn’t go.” Not a great name for a car. Well, it seems as if Mark Zuckerberg has made a similar mistake renaming Facebook.

The Western Journal reported the following today:

Giggles, snickers and some awkwardness greeted Facebook’s decision to change its corporate name to Meta.

Jokesters poked fun at Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who is Jewish, because “meta” is pronounced like the feminine form of the Hebrew word for “dead,”, according to the Times of Israel.

“In Hebrew, *Meta* means *Dead*,” Dr. Nirit Weiss-Blatt, a tech expert, tweeted on Thursday. “The Jewish community will ridicule this name for years to come.”

…Zuckerberg said the name Facebook does not cover “everything we do” at a time when his empire includes Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, its Quest VR headset, its Horizon VR platform and more. Zuckerberg explained that the metaverse is a form of the virtual world where everyone is connected by virtual reality headsets, augmented reality glasses and phone apps.

The article also notes:

In Portuguese and Spanish, the word is not so troubling because it means “goal.” In Brazil, however, the word has a sexual connotation, according to Bloomberg.

Zuckerberg’s announcement was a boon for Nova Scotia-based Meta Materials. The company’s stock rose 26 percent in after-hours trading on Thursday, when Zuckerberg made his announcement, and another 6 percent on Friday, according to Reuters.

The article concludes:

Name changes can often fail in translation.

Kentucky Fried Chicken learned that when it entered the Chinese market in the 1980s, according to the BBC.

The restaurant’s “finger lickin’ good” motto, when translated into Mandarin, came out “eat your fingers off.”

It’s probably a good idea to use a translation application of some sort before you make a significant name change. Sometimes mistakes can be very misleading!

 

Trying To Return Lost Property

Yesterday MSN reporting the following:

The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office in Florida is looking to reunite $2 million worth of marijuana with its rightful owner, according to a snarky post on the department’s Facebook page.

“If you happened to have lost or misplaced approximately 770 pounds of high grade marijuana and would like to have your property returned, please contact our Narcotics Agents and we will be more than happy to reunite you with your lost property!!” read the statement written by Sheriff Wayne Ivey.

…”Once we properly identify you as the rightful owner we will gladly return your property and also make sure that both you and your property are kept in a secure area so that no one can try to rip you off!!” Ivey’s post read.

The post ended by saying the owner of the marijuana would get an “all expenses paid extensive ‘staycation'” so the owner can “reflect for a while on exactly how much your lost property means to you.”

The Facebook notes that the Sheriff’s Office understands that all of us have misplaced or lost something at some time in our lives and wants to do the right thing by returning the missing property to its rightful owner.

Censorship Abounds

This morning as I was doing my research for this blog, I came across the following article, “Ohio lawmakers propose school choice for all students” at the Washington Examiner. In the morning when I come across an article I think I would like to post on my blog, I copy the link and post it in the Right Wing Granny group on Facebook. Imagine my surprise when it didn’t post and Facebook told me it did not meet the community standards. Wow.

Here are some excerpts from the Washington Examiner article:

Two Ohio lawmakers want to give all Ohio students the option of school choice and create K-12 education competition, which they say would raise the level of public and private education throughout the state.

The Ohio Backpack Bill, originally introduced in May and updated with a sub-bill to House Bill 290 , would allow all parents to send their children to public school or establish an education savings account. The state would send the money earmarked for that student to the public school or into the parent’s account, allowing it to be used for private school tuition or other education expenses.

…The state sends money allocated for each student to the public school district. If a student qualifies for school choice through income-eligibility, the local public school district sends the money to private school.

“It’s about students and increasing the education opportunities for all. This bill seeks to find the right educational opportunity for each of the children in Ohio,” Rep. Riordan McClain, R-Upper Sandusky, said. “It creates a true money-follows-the-child program. Money goes to public school if parents want, and if a parent wants an educational scholarship account, then the state has to put that money in that account, which the parent can use for education expenses.”

The bill addresses only state education funding. Local public school districts still would collect local and federal money. The average state expense per student is $6,600, according to Christian Education Network Executive Director Troy McIntosh. The legislation would allocate $5,500 per K-9 student and $7,500 for 9-12 students.

“This is not a bill intended to benefit the kids that want to run off and attend a private school,” McIntosh said. “We want this bill to benefit every student in Ohio. An overwhelming majority of parents are realizing and asking for this sort of program.”

The state treasurer would oversee the program. Educations savings accounts could be used for private school tuition, homeschool expenses, tutoring, books and other educational expenses.

“This model is not new. This approach is gaining momentum in Ohio and nationwide,” McClain said. “We want to fund students not systems. When parents have options, they are more engaged. When schools compete for students, children’s outcomes rise.”

The article concludes:

Center for Christian Virtue President Aaron Baer said the bill would give parents recourse in districts similar to Upper Arlington, which recently created single-sex bathrooms, or others that imposed mask mandates.

I suspect the previous paragraph is what caused the problem on Facebook.

Beware Of The Trojan Horse

The ‘Facebook whistleblower’ who appeared before a Senate subcommittee yesterday is probably not all she appears to be.

On Monday, The Washington Free Beacon reported the following:

The Facebook whistleblower who revealed herself in a 60 Minutes interview is getting strategic communications guidance from a top Democratic operative, according to a source with direct knowledge of the relationship, which was confirmed by another half-dozen sources with indirect knowledge of the partnership.

Frances Haugen, the former Facebook employee who has for the past 10 months fed internal documents to a top Wall Street Journal reporter, and who revealed her identity in a primetime broadcast on Sunday, is working with the political consultant and former Obama administration deputy press secretary Bill Burton and his consulting firm, Bryson Gillette. It is unclear when Haugen’s relationship with Burton and Bryson Gillette began, how big her communications team is, and whether it includes other political operatives.

…Burton’s involvement helping to manage Haugen’s public debut suggests that her argument is part of a broader Democratic initiative. A Facebook employee in the company’s now-defunct “civic integrity” division until May, Haugen is calling for the federal government to intervene against the company. Though she did not specify in the Sunday interview what sorts of regulations she might support, she is likely to be pressed on that when she appears on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

Burton himself has also been an outspoken Facebook critic, likening them to tobacco companies that knowingly poisoned people and concealed the health risks of using their products — an analogy Haugen is expected to use in her congressional testimony.

The article also notes:

Now a public affairs consultant, Burton, the founder of the Democratic super PAC Priorities USA Action, also serves on the board of the Center for Humane Technology, a nonprofit organization founded in 2018 that has pit itself against technology companies like Facebook, arguing that they are incentivized to stoke outrage and polarization at the cost of human well-being. The organization produced the 2020 Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma,” which explores the deleterious influence of social media on its users. Bryson Gillette has done communications work for the Center for Human Technology, according to an event agenda posted online by PR News in which Burton is expected to discuss his work to create a “cultural awakening around the impacts of social media on democracy and our daily lives.”

Haugen echoed that message on 60 Minutes, telling CBS’s Scott Pelley that because Facebook “can be hacked with anger, it’s easier to provoke people into anger.” She continued, “And publishers are saying, ‘Oh, if I do more angry, polarizing, divisive content, I get more money.’ Facebook has set up a system of incentives that is pulling people apart.”

The Center for Humane Technology’s “key advisers” also include Facebook cofounder and former New Republic owner Chris Hughes and is funded by left-wing charitable organizations including George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, the Ford Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson foundation.

Do you trust anyone who has even a loose connection with a George-Soros-funded organization.

So what is this testimony ultimately about? It will pave the way for more government control of speech and the eventual denial of a platform for conservative speech. Frances Haugen’s testimony is one of the opening salvos in the war against free speech.

Posted on Facebook today by Senator Rand Paul. Let’s not forget that although getting Americans out of Afghanistan has to be a priority, there are other issues:

Who doesn’t like a good piece of cheese? Whether its cheddar, Swiss, provolone, or simply American cheese, everybody has their preference. And thanks to USAID, your new favorite might eventually be from Sjenica, Serbia! That’s right! USAID spent part of a $22 million “Sustainable Local Development Project” training the staff at the Regional Center for Agricultural Development (RCAD) in Sjenica, Serbia, to follow the cheese standards of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and help producers adopt best practices. USAID reports the head of the center as stating, “Our ultimate goal is to be able to guarantee the Sjenica cheese standards and quality to the consumers in the EU, US, and further.”
What tangible skills did USAID help impart? Well, “RCAD’s staff was trained to introduce and implement ISO standards, to properly sample milk and meat products at local farms, to calibrate laboratory equipment, and to advise farmers on improving the safety and quality of their products,” a company that implemented the overall Development Project reported. “The project also trained 30 dairy and livestock farmers and processors on how to improve production practices and meet laboratory standards,” they noted, going on to also say it “engaged a local backstopping expert to assist the laboratory staff during critical phases of the accreditation process. …”
In recent years on the domestic side, the U.S. has been experiencing a massive, historic cheese surplus, one that would eventually hit 1.4 billion pounds — which NPR noted in its report “means that there is enough cheese sitting in cold storage to wrap around the U.S. Capitol.” So American dairy farmers dealing with the realities of this situation might be cheesed off to learn their government worked to strengthen competition and the European cheese market — using their own tax dollars to boot.

 

 

Facebook As A Propaganda Outlet

Yesterday The Conservative Treehouse posted an screenshot of a recent warning that has been posted by the people who control Facebook.

This is the warning:

The article notes:

It is easy to see where this ideological control mechanism is going.  Big Tech doesn’t want comrade citizens exposed to thoughts and opinions that might run counter to the approved worldview of the totalitarian state.   It’s actually quite remarkable to see this so publicly pushed, and see them so open about it.

Obviously a visit to the wrong website (your internet travel obviously being tracked by the command and control authorities) will likely trigger the warning.  Visit The Conservative Tree House and receive a warning upon exit “you have been exposed to harmful extremist content”.

I think back to that scene in 2001 A Space Odyssey when Dave Bowman is trying to stop the computer system HAL-9000 (artificial intelligence) from controlling his behavior, control his spacecraft, and ultimately killing him: “Dave, I’m afraid I can’t let you do that”…

The article concludes:

On the positive side of this, the effort is resoundingly going to backfire amid a larger segment of the younger population, they are already using subversive accounts like Fleebook, Flinsta and Fleet to avoid detection amid their online activity.   The rebel alliance will only become more slippery and more focused on the need to approach everything with the insurgency mindset.

Regardless of how much Big Tech, Big Intel and Big Government synergize in their efforts to control human behavior, the Rebel Alliance ultimately wins every long-term contest.   History proves this to be true.  The need for freedom is still an inherent and underlying human condition amid the majority.

As Mike Vanderboegh said so eloquently: “We will not go gently into that bloody collectivist good night. Indeed, we will make with our defiance such a sound as ALL history from that day forward will be forced to note, even if they despise us in the writing of it.  And when we are gone, the scattered, free survivors hiding in the ruins of our once-great republic will sing of our deeds in forbidden songs, tending the flickering flame of individual liberty until it bursts forth again, as it must, generations later.”

Stay strong, rebels.

How Freedom Of Speech Dies

On Friday Newt Gingrich posted an article illustrating the discrepancies in the censorship policies of Facebook.

The article reports:

The hypocrisy of Facebook’s so called internal “supreme court” decision to uphold former President Donald Trump’s ban from the platform is astounding. However, this decision will ultimately help President Trump because it makes him a martyr for standing in defense of constitutional American freedoms.

Every American should take note of this decision. If the Facebook oligarchs can silence someone who served as President of the United States and received nearly 75 million votes, then they can silence anyone.

But to understand the depth of the hypocrisy and anti-Americanism of the Facebook elites, it is more revealing to look at who they are not removing from the platform.

The article lists the people who have not been removed from Facebook:

Let’s start with the Chinese Communist totalitarian dictatorship. Xinhua News Agency– a state-run propaganda outlet – has 90.2 million followers on Facebook. The People’s Daily and the Global Times, which are Chinese Communist Party propaganda outlets, have 86.5 million and 62.9 million followers, respectively. The state-run television network, China Central Television, and its international arm, China Global Television Network, have 49.8 and 116.8 million followers. All of these organizations have been designated by the U.S. State Department as foreign missions.

To Facebook, a former American president is more dangerous than the Chinese Communist dictatorship, which is actively committing genocide and religious persecution, has taken over Hong Kong and threatened Taiwan, and openly says it intends to be the world’s dominant superpower by 2049.

The article notes that The “Movement in Support of Vladimir Putin” page has 3.1 million followers.

The list continues:

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, representing a country where its Congress openly chants “death to America,” has 883,829 Facebook followers. The corrupt Venezuelan dictator, President Nicolás Maduro, has 1.2 million followers on Facebook. Raul Castro’s replacement as the leader of Cuban Communist Party, President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermudez, has 24,261 Facebook followers.

The article concludes:

This is just a sample. It is disgusting that Mark Zuckerberg – who was made a billionaire by the freedom found in the United States, who has relied on the stature of this country, and whose business exists because of the freedom of speech – would preside over this phony, dishonest process in order to keep President Trump off of Facebook, while allowing real dictators to post freely.

This should be a national scandal. Zuckerberg and the Facebook oligarchs have violated fundamental American freedoms and betrayed their own country.

The Silicon Valley is looking a lot more like the Silicon Swamp—hostile to Americans and friendly to dictatorships.

One wonders if those responsible for making decisions on banning people from Facebook have thought through the implications of those decisions.

Preparing The Way For “The Ministry Of Truth”

One America News posted an article today with the following headline, “White House supports social media’s ability to silence ‘misinformation.'”

The article reports:

According to the White House, social media companies have the responsibility of shutting down misinformation. During a press conference Wednesday, Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked about Facebook’s decision to uphold its ban of President Trump.

The obvious question here is, “Who decides exactly what is misinformation?”

The article continues:

Specifically, she was asked if Big Tech oligarchs can muzzle a former president, what’s to stop them from silencing anyone? Psaki said she had no comment on Trump, but said Joe Biden’s view is that the major platforms have the job to stop amplifying “untrustworthy content.”

“His view is that there’s more that needs to be done to ensure that this type of misinformation, disinformation, damaging, sometimes life threatening information is not going out to the American public,” stated the press secretary.

Remember–this is the same press secretary that has stated that President Biden is simply cleaning up the mess at the southern border that President Trump created. Has anyone bothered to censor her misinformation?

 

Censored Again

I have never actually spent time in Facebook jail. Even the Right Wing Granny group on Facebook where I post has never been blocked. From what I can tell, I and the group have on occasion been shadow-banned, but never actually blocked or put in Facebook jail. Unfortunately, there are legitimate mainstream news sources that cannot make that claim.

On Friday, Dan Bongino reported that Facebook had prevented users from sharing the recent article in The New York Post about the real estate purchases of the head of Black Lives Matter.

The New York Post responded in an editorial:

On Thursday, Facebook decided its users should not be able to share a New York Post article about the property-buying habits of one of the founders of Black Lives Matter.

This is the third time we’ve tangled with social media giants in the past year. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, we published a column that suggested the virus could have leaked from a Chinese virology lab. Facebook’s “fact checkers” decided this was an opinion you weren’t allowed to have and blocked the article. Today, it’s a commonly discussed theory, with officials from former CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield to CNN’s Sanjay Gupta saying it can’t be discounted. Even the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said it can’t be ruled out.

In October, we published a series of articles about a laptop Hunter Biden left at a Delaware repair shop. Twitter suspended our account. You probably know how that ended. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey admitted to lawmakers months later it was a “total mistake.”

We were right both times. We’re right this time, too.

Please follow both links above to read both articles. Unfortunately, neither the American press or social media is doing a reasonable job of reporting in an unbiased manner or of keeping Americans informed. That is dangerous to our Republic.

 

Banishing Political Opposition

We have all seen the news that President Trump has been banned from Twitter and Facebook. There are some people who see that as justified, but how many people have to be banned before those people become concerned?

Legal Insurrection posted an article today about Facebook banning the “Walk Away Movement” page. The page consisted of personal testimonies of people who have left the Democrat party discussing their reasons for leaving.

The article quotes a Washington Examiner article:

“FACEBOOK has removed the #WalkAway Campaign and has BANNED ME and EVERY MEMBER of my team!!!” Straka, founder of the #WalkAway movement, tweeted Friday morning.

“Over half a million people in #WalkAway with hundreds of thousands of testimonial videos and stories is GONE,” he added. “Facebook has banned everything related to #WalkAway.”

Straka also included screenshots of messages from Facebook, including one that said the page was “removed for violating terms of use.”

Straka confirmed to the Washington Examiner that his Facebook group, the business page for the nonprofit group, and his personal account were all shut down Friday morning.

He added that people merely associated with the page were also removed from Facebook.

“Every volunteer, every paid employee, banned,” Straka said.

The article at Legal Insurrection notes:

How can this be perceived as anything other than political?

As long as we have people in Congress that take large donations from big tech, no action will be taken to hold Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc., accountable. It is unfortunate that somehow the Republicans didn’t get to that when they held the Senate.

 

Houston, We Have A Problem

The problem with election fraud is that when it is left unchecked, it continues. I am not optimistic about overturning the fraudulent presidential election, but I am concerned about what that fraudulent victory will mean for the future of America. I strongly suspect that last night’s election in Georgia had some of the same problems that the presidential election had.

A friend on Facebook posted the following picture:

I can understand how a lead might shrink because votes from the other candidate came in, but I can’t understand how 5000 votes could suddenly disappear. I think this is a problem. I also think that if we don’t deal with the fraud now, we will never again have an honest election in America. We will be ruled by the elite political class who will eventually destroy the middle class and our way of life. We are already seeing the attitude among many of our politicians that the rules do not apply to them. I fear we will only see more of that in the future by those who are willing to cheat to win.

The Following Was Posted On Facebook By A Friend

 

Some of these goals are very worthwhile goals; however, we live in a representative republic that is supposed to be governed by the people. Using a disease to jam through policies without the approval of the people is not acceptable. There is also the aspect of the viability of some of these goals.

I love the idea of no poverty. However, people make decisions that result in their living in poverty. Does it help them for the rest of us to continually bail them out, or should we help them learn from their mistakes?

Clean and affordable energy is a great idea, but how realistic is it with the current technology? How clean is it? What about the children working in the Lithium mines? Are they part of clean and affordable energy?

Reduced inequalities also sounds like a great concept. The Pilgrims thought so too until they almost starved to death. People have different levels of ambition. Those who work the hardest need to be rewarded the most. Otherwise no one will bother to work hard. Read the history of the Plymouth Colony for further illustrations of that point.

Peace, justice, and strong institutions also sounds great. Who would be in charge of those institutions? Does justice include freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, freedom of assembly? Who determines what justice is?

This little chart of wonderful ideals actually illustrates the wisdom of the Founding Fathers of America. All of the ideals listed in the chart are possible under the government our Founding Fathers created. Poverty is still with us because people have the freedom to make their own decisions. A number of years ago, an American author pointed out that there are three things that you can do that will give you a 90 percent chance of avoiding poverty–finish high school, get a job, and get married before you have children. Statistically if everyone did that, we could end poverty.

The chart above is simply an illustration of the wonderful-sounding concepts those who would take away our freedom would use to advance their agenda. Don’t be fooled.