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April 2021

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Justice Thomas: Legally Addressing Big Tech’s Unprecedented Power is Inevitable Katie Pavlich

By on April 6th, 2021

like a public utility, given its extensive reach and power. 

Here are the pertinent details grabbing people’s attention, especially in Silicon Valley: 

Some aspects of Mr. Trump’s account resemble a constitutionally protected public forum. But it seems rather odd to say that something is a government forum when a private company has unrestricted authority to do away with it. The disparity between Twitter’s control and Mr. Trump’s control is stark, to say the least. Mr. Trump blocked several people from interacting with his messages. Twitter barred Mr. Trump not only from interacting with a few users, but removed him from the entire platform, thus barring all Twitter users from interacting with his messages Under its terms of service, Twitter can remove any person from the platform—including the President of the United States—“at any time for any or no reason.” 

Today’s digital platforms provide avenues for historically unprecedented amounts of speech, including speech by government actors. Also unprecedented, however, is the concentrated control of so much speech in the hands of a few private parties. We will soon have no choice but to address how our legal doctrines apply to highly concentrated, privately owned information infrastructure such as digital platforms. 

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Ruined Generation Derek Hunter

By on April 6th, 2021

https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2021/04/06/the-ruined-generation-n2587409

The Internet was supposed to bring with it a renaissance, a new enlightenment and a brighter future. It was to be a time when people became smarter, having access to the collective knowledge of humanity at their fingertips, and with the invention of the smart phone, in their pocket, always. What could go wrong? A lot, it turns out. Actually, just about everything. The promise was not kept. All we ended up with was a bunch of narcissists desperate to share pictures of the food they’re eating and demanding validation for their existence from everyone else.

Scroll through social media and you’ll be inundated with selfies and pictures of food. Did something really happen, did you really eat a meal if you didn’t tell the world about? It’s not that these people think you need to know where and what they’re eating, they need you to know. They want the likes and comments, they crave those more than the nutrition in the food. Hell, they probably choose where to eat based on how the food looks more than the taste or cost.

There is an entire segment of our population who now lives for the validation they receive from others. They need it. It’s not just because they like it, it’s because they have no self-worth without it.

It used to be that if you didn’t like someone, or they didn’t like you, you’d simply avoid them and the problem wasn’t only solved, it disappeared. Now people you’ve never met, will likely never meet, and probably would dislike if you did, demand you not only acknowledge their existence, but you celebrate it as well. If your beliefs, deeply held religious or simply a matter of taste, hinder the approval they desire you are labeled an “ist” or a “phobe” of some sort, then God protect you.

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POLITICS Comments turned off

Sinema Calls on Senators to ‘Change Their Behavior’ Instead of Eliminating Filibuster By Zachary Evans

By on April 6th, 2021

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/sinema-calls-on-senators-to-change-their-behavior-instead-of-eliminating-filibuster/

Senator Kyrsten Sinema called on colleagues to “change their behavior” and work for compromises instead of attempting to eliminate the Senate filibuster, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

“When you have a place that’s broken and not working, and many would say that’s the Senate today, I don’t think the solution is to erode the rules,” Sinema told the Journal. “I think the solution is for senators to change their behavior and begin to work together, which is what the country wants us to do.”

Sinema’s comments come amid pressure from progressive Democrats to eliminate the filibuster entirely, and allow legislation to pass the Senate with a simple majority in place of the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster. Senator Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) has floated changing filibuster rules to make the procedure more difficult to use, without eliminating the filibuster entirely, however Sinema refused to discuss that possibility.

The purpose of the Senate is “to craft bipartisan solutions to solve the challenges we face in our country,” Sinema said.

The Senate is currently divided 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking vote.

Amid Republican opposition, Democrats used budget reconciliation rules to pass their $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill by a simple majority. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) announced on Monday evening that the Senate parliamentarian approved using budget reconciliation for two additional bills, which could allow Democrats to pass the Biden administration’s infrastructure package.

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FOREIGN POLICY, ISRAEL Comments turned off

Ruthie Blum: Abbas’s snubs work like a charm on Biden

By on April 6th, 2021

https://www.jns.org/opinion/abbass-snubs-work-like-a-charm-on-biden/

 Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas may be facing serious challenges to his reign in Ramallah, but he’s having no trouble playing the powers-that-be in Washington. After four years of being called to task by the administration of former President Donald Trump, Abu Mazen (as he is familiarly known in the Middle East) is once again enjoying the upper hand.
Recent moves by the White House and State Department to “reset” relations with the P.A. by reversing decisions made by Trump haven’t come as a surprise. Prior to and upon his election, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that he would be cozying up to the Palestinians.

Using more diplomatic language, members of his team have reiterated America’s intention to “restore” relations with the Palestinians in a number of concrete ways. These include reopening the PLO office in Washington and a restoration of massive amounts of financial aid to the P.A. and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Yet, just as no “goodwill gesture” aimed at reversing Trump’s policies vis-à-vis the Palestinians has been unexpected, neither has Abbas’s typically ungracious attitude. Unlike Trump’s people, however—who made it clear from the outset that the aging despot’s delusions of grandeur and posturing wouldn’t work on them—Biden’s are kissing up to him.
An incident that took place a few weeks ago is illustrative.
In mid-February, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken personally phoned Abbas, undoubtedly to discuss all the goodies that the P.A. could anticipate from Biden & Co, and perhaps to wish him well in the upcoming elections. But rather than bask in the attention that he was receiving from America’s top diplomat, Abbas refused to take the call.
Yes, the head of the tiny terrorism-supporting entity was deeply offended that someone of Blinken’s “inferior” stature was on the line. Abbas, after all, had demanded that Biden himself initiate the conversation, “president to president.”

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BOOKS Comments turned off

Hunter Biden’s Beautiful Things is an ugly piece of fiction Only in America — and banana republics and one-party dictatorships — can naked nepotism be converted into virtue By Dominic Green

By on April 6th, 2021

https://spectator.us/topic/hunter-biden-book-beautiful-things-cbs-interview/

“All this makes Beautiful Things more than a celebrity addict’s confession. It’s a whitewash, an attempt to spin Hunter Biden’s story back onto the familiar rails of pity and redemption – and yet another attempt by Hunter to spin some cash out of his famous last name while the media cover for him. There’s nothing of public interest in any of this, is there?”

Biden is dishonest. His memory is shot. He’s an influence-peddler pretending to be a victim, a lifelong exploiter of his public position who hides behind the lowest forms of sentimentality.

Hunter Biden, of course. You’d have to be on the wrong end of a three-day crack binge to confuse Hunter Biden with the impeccably honest, mentally agile and profoundly principled multimillionaire career politician Joe Biden.

Hunter has written an autobiography. Or rather, some desperate and shameless mercenary has ghosted it for him. It belongs to the most execrable category of literature, the political memoir — the sort of book written to launch a political career (Dreams From My Father) or, as in this case, to end one (Ten Percent for the Big Guy).

The book is called Beautiful Things and has a picture of Hunter as a child on its cover. NPR calls it ‘harrowing’ and compares it to ‘degradation porn’. Perhaps this is supposed to dissuade NPR listeners from looking too closely: NPR prefers ethical porn. But we should look closely, because Hunter Biden’s business dealings are a matter of national interest. So is the ongoing effort by a mostly pro-Democratic media to kill the story around him.

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HOMELAND SECURITY, IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

Border Patrol agents arrest Yemeni men who were on the FBI’s Terrorism Watch List One man was arrested in late January and another was arrested in late March.By Alex Nitzberg

By on April 6th, 2021

https://justthenews.com/government/security/border-patrol-agents-arrest-yemeni-men-who-were-fbis-terrorism-watch-list

Border Patrol agents have arrested illegal alien Yemeni men present in the U.S. illegally who were on the FBI’s Terrorism Watch List.

Authorities apprehended a man on January 29 and records checks showed that the 33-year-old was on the FBI’s Terrorism Watch List and on the No-Fly list, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which also reported that agents discovered a cell phone sim card concealed beneath his shoe’s insole.

Similarly, agents on March 30 arrested an individual for illegally entering the country and records checks showed that the 26-year-old man was included on the FBI Terrorism Watch List and the on the No Fly List, according to CBP.

“The No Fly List is a small subset of the U.S. government Terrorist Screening Database (also known as the terrorist watchlist) that contains the identity information of known or suspected terrorists. This database is maintained by the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center,” according to TSA.gov.

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BOOKS, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

My New Book on Journalism, Exposing Corruption, and the Resulting Risks, Dangers and Societal Changes Glenn Greenwald

By on April 6th, 2021

https://greenwald.substack.com/p/my-new-book-on-journalism-exposing?token

On Mother’s Day in 2019, I obtained a massive archive of materials from Brazil’s most powerful officials. The reporting we did changed the country, and our lives.

In 2015, I travelled to Sweden for an event with former Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein. It was billed as a conversation about modern journalism between the reporter who had broken the biggest story of the prior generation (Watergate) and the one responsible for the biggest story of the current one (NSA/Snowden revelations).

A couple of years earlier, at the height of the Snowden reporting, Bernstein and I had traded some barbed insults through the media. So before traveling to Sweden, he generously reached out to invite me to dinner in order, essentially, to clear the air so that we could have a civil conversation. The night before the event, we met for dinner at the hotel restaurant. We quickly laughed off the acrimony — it had been a couple of years prior, and both of us have had much worse said about us — and proceeded to have a perfectly enjoyable conversation.

Truth be told, I was excited to meet and talk to Bernstein. Though his Trump-era persona became conventionally fixated on melodramatizing Trump’s evils for CNN, at the time Bernstein for me was most associated with the high investigative drama of Watergate. As a kid, it was that journalistic triumph, along with the Pentagon Papers, that captured my obsessive attention and shaped my views of what journalism is: reporters and whistleblowers who risk everything and face various multi-level dangers to confront and expose corruption by the most powerful actors in society. Throughout pre-adolescence, I spent countless hours reading All the President’s Men and repeatedly watching the excellent 1976 film based on it — in which Bernstein was played by Dustin Hoffman and Bob Woodward played by Robert Redford — and that noble and exciting iconography stayed with me and shaped how I view what journalism should be. It still does.

Our two-hour conversation that night covered many topics, but one comment from Bernstein stayed with me. “I know you likely already know this,” he said, “but a story like the NSA reporting you’re doing is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so make sure to enjoy it while it lasts.”

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CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB Comments turned off

“Cities Will Be on Fire” – Black Lives Matter Activist Warns “All Hell Will Break Loose” If Officer Chauvin Is Not Convicted in George Floyd Death By Jim Hoft

By on April 6th, 2021

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/04/cities-will-fire-black-lives-matter-activist-warns-us-cities-will-burn-officer-chauvin-not-convicted-george-floyd-death/

Black Lives Matter activist Maya Echols, who is also a signed model with IMG Worldwide, warned in a recent Tik-Tok video that “cities will burn” if Police Officer Derek Chauvin is not convicted in the death of drug addict and thief George Floyd.

Echols says, “All hell is going to break loose!”

Maya Echols: “If George Floyd’s murderer is not sentenced just know that all hell is going to break loose. Don’t be surprised when buildings are on fire.”

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CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB Comments turned off

Will Anyone Face Any Consequences For Gaslighting Americans On The Hunter Biden Story? Ben Domenech

By on April 6th, 2021

https://thefederalist.com/2020/12/11/will-anyone-face-any-consequences-for-gaslighting-americans-on-the-hunter-biden-story/

So now that it is overwhelmingly evident the New York Post’s initial Hunter and Jim Biden story wasn’t based on hacked material, wasn’t Russian misinformation, is clearly something people deserved to know before voting, and that big tech and America’s corporate media tried to make sure that didn’t happen – and that once again rather than alter their behavior or ask for forgiveness, they’re going to instead attempt to gaslight you about all of it – I have a number of questions.

First, when did Joe Biden first learn that his repeated claims the stories about his son and his brother were Fake News – or in his phrasing, debunked, smears, and the like – were in fact false? When was he briefed on this exactly, and by whom? And why, given that every effort was made to distance Hunter from the campaign, did the defensive announcement come from the Transition instead of just from Hunter himself if Joe, as he has always claimed, has nothing to do with this.

Second, William Barr reportedly worked very hard to keep the Hunter Biden investigation hidden from the public – something that won’t help his standing with the conspiracy minded. While I can understand why this was done, will there be some explanation offered as to why this wasn’t an unusual act of deference, influenced by the 2016 concerns over James Comey’s behavior? Andrew McCarthy offers an explanation here, one which I am not sure will satisfy critics who believe American voters at least deserved to know the rumored investigation was real much earlier in the process.

For Big Tech: Has Facebook detailed which of its paid Fact Check partners were the basis for it suspending the Hunter Biden story’s spread? Have these partners retracted or altered their checks? Will they remain Fact Check partners going forward given such obvious inaccuracy?

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FOREIGN POLICY, ISRAEL, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Palestinians: US Taxpayer Money Going to Terrorists by Bassam Tawil

By on April 6th, 2021

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17208/palestinians-terrorists-us-aid-money

The memo, however, does not specifically say that the renewed US funding would be conditioned on ending the Palestinians’ “pay-to-slay” program. Instead, the Biden administration is only seeking a “commitment” from the Palestinian leadership to end the stipends.

It is likely that PA President Mahmoud Abbas may make such a “commitment” to the Biden administration. In reality, however, Abbas has announced over the past few years that he would never stop the payments to the imprisoned terrorists and the families of the “martyrs.”

In the world of Abbas and the Palestinians, any Palestinian who is killed while carrying out a terror attack against Jews is a martyr and hero.

“We will not deduct or suspend the allowances. Even if we are left with one penny, we will spend it on the families of the prisoners and martyrs. We consider the martyrs and prisoners as our stars.” — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Wafa.ps

The Palestinian leadership is now hoping that the Biden administration will turn a blind eye to the “pay-for-slay’ program and allow them to continue funding terrorists and their families.

The Palestinians are letting the world know that the payments to the terrorists will absolutely continue, just not through the banks. The Palestinians are trying to make it look as if this is a problem related only to the method of payment, and not the fact that the money is going to reward terrorists for murdering, or attempting to murder, Jews.

It is clear that any Palestinian “commitment” to cease rewarding terrorists will not be worth the paper it is written on. Abbas and his henchmen are telling the Biden administration one thing in English and their people the opposite in Arabic. They have no intention whatsoever of stopping the blood-soaked payments. In order to ensure that they continue, the Palestinian leadership are funneling the terror funds through the Palestinian post offices.

If and when the Biden administration resumes financial aid to Abbas, those who will resume collecting US taxpayer dollars are the terrorists.

The Biden administration’s decision to resume unconditional US financial aid to the Palestinians will allow the Palestinian Authority (PA) to continue rewarding terrorists who kill Jews, and sometimes, as “collateral damage,” others.

Last week, the Biden administration reportedly confirmed to Congress that the PA has continued to use international aid money to reward terrorists and their families.

The Biden administration, however, emphasized that the PA’s actions will not impact its plan to renew funding to the Palestinians.

A non-public State Department report revealed that the Palestinians distributed at least $151 million in 2019 on their “pay-to-slay” program, in which international aid dollars are spent to support imprisoned terrorists and their families. Financial statements also revealed that at least $191 million was lavished on “deceased Palestinians referred to as ‘martyrs.'”

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